VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The Rhode Island Men’s and Massachusetts Women’s teams lead after day one of the A-10 Indoor Track and Field Championship on Friday at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.
URI holds a narrow lead with 46 points after victories in the long jump by Matt Santy, and silver medals in the pole vault, long jump, weight throw and distance medley relay. George Mason is close behind with 43 points followed by Loyola Chicago (23), VCU (21), Massachusetts (19.5), Saint Louis (12.5), La Salle (11), Fordham (10). Saint Joseph’s and Davidson round out the men's team finishes.
The Minutewomen lead with 38 points after a gold medal from Chloe Taylor and a bronze medal in the weight throw by Ainsley Wiesner. George Mason is narrowly behind in second (35.5) followed by VCU (30), Richmond (23), Fordham (19), La Salle (16), Dayton (15), Duquesne (13), Rhode Island (11), Saint Louis (11). Davidson, George Washington and Loyola Chicago completed the team standings on the women's side.
Four records were broken on day one, two of which were broken by the Patriots men’s and women’s teams. The Patriots’ Ellie Desmond set the A-10 time of 2:48.52 in the prelims for the women’s 1,000-meter run. GM’s Walt Bannerman broke a 32-year record in the pole vault with a mark of 5.21M. Bannerman’s new mark of 5.21M surpassed the previous height of 5.201M, which was previously held by West Virginia’s Jeff Core.
Rhode Island’s Mason Brubaker finished second in the pole vault with a height of 4.91M. Bannerman’s teammate Colton Ocetnik placed third at 4.76M.
Taylor captured gold for the pole vault, while setting set a new record of 4.02M. GM teammates Kennedy Drish and Amber Akelson split second with a mark of 3.92M.
VCU’s Gudrun Hallgrimsdottir set a new mark in the weight throw of 21.89M, which broke her previous A-10 record. Hallgrimsdottir’s teammate Eryn Byrd finished second at 18.84M. Wiesner was third at 17.79M.
Santy captured the men’s long jump with a mark of 7.19M. Santy’s teammate John Santos placed second at 7.14M. Chamberlin Guthrie of Massachusetts finished third at 7.08M.
On the women’s side, the other first place finishers were Molly Wise of Richmond in the long jump (6.09M), Fordham’s Katarina Birimac in the 5,000-meter (16:36.06), Abigail Weening of George Mason in the pentathlon (3,669 points) and La Salle in the Distance Medley Relay. La Salle’s victory in the DMR was led by Neve Moulai, Soleil Morrison, Lexy Rivard and Gwenno Goode at 11:35.21.
On the men’s side, John Casper of VCU captured first in the weight throw (20.33M), Loyola Chicago’s James Lawernce won the 5,000-meter run in 14:07.52 and Fordham secured gold in the DMR. Fordham’s first-place victory in the DMR was behind Nathaniel Bezuneh, Dakota Strain, Sean Reidy and Rodolfo Sanchez at 9:52.44.
The Indoor Track and Field Championship concludes tomorrow, Saturday Feb. 28, with the first event at 9 a.m.