JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Navy track and field freshman Hayden Fox (Pittsburgh, Pa.) highlighted day two of competition at the NCAA East Preliminaries on Friday at Hodges Stadium on the campus of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla. The rookie posted a distance of 67.35m (220-11) in the javelin to finish seventh and qualify for the NCAA Championship in Austin, Texas.
 
Fox wasted little time posting his qualifying mark, recording his top throw in his first attempt. The distance was his second best of the season and marked the third time this year that a Navy thrower topped 67.00m in the javelin.
 
"You never know how freshman are going to compete," Director of Navy Track and Field Jamie Cook said of Fox's performance. "He won his flight and came really close to a PR. He is extremely competitive and performed well today."
 
Fox was joined in the javelin by sophomore Skyler Mason (Oakdale, Pa.). Mason notched a distance of 65.64m (215-04) to finish in 16th. The throw was his second-best distance this season and the third-best mark of his young career.
 
In the preliminaries of the 110m hurdles, Clayton Thompson (Corpus Christi, Texas) broke the school record in the event with a time of 13.98. He becomes the first Midshipmen in program history to break 14 seconds in the event. The sophomore missed advancing to the semifinals of the event by 0.02 seconds.
 
"Our region is very tough, but we have had multiple PRs and several school records so far with another day of competition ahead of us," Cook said. "It just shows you how competitive our kids are that this late in the year they are still posting PRs and school records. That is only going to lead to more and more success moving forward."
 
A day after breaking the school record in the 400m hurdles, Thompson posted the seventh-best time in program history. In the semifinals of the event, the sophomore clocked a 51.80 to post one of the best performances in school history. It was his second fastest time in the event this season.
 
Kevin Murray (Wilmington, Del.) was winning the 3,000m steeplechase, but fell going over a hurdle. The junior regained his composure and finished the race strong, clocking a time of 9:06.32 to finish 29th.
 
Sean Brennan (Westfield, N.J.) posted another solid performance in his second throwing event of the weekend. The senior captain notched a throw of 53.23m (174-08) in the discus to finish 28th in the event. The throw was his third-best of the season and marked the seventh time this season he topped 50.00m.
 
Navy concludes competition in the NCAA East Preliminaries on Saturday with three more events. Brennan competes in his third event of the weekend with the shot put at 2:45 p.m. Junior Cedric Williams (Powder Springs, Ga.) follows with the triple jump at 6:30 p.m. The Midshipmen close out the competition with the 4x400m relay team of John Finnegan (Spring, Texas), Eric Hughey (Lee's Summit, Mo.), Cameron Hurd (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.), and Simon Petsch (Billings, Mont.) competing at 9:45 p.m.
 
 
Schedule of Events for Midshipmen
Saturday, May 25
2:45 p.m. – Men's Shot Put (Sean Brennan)
6:30 p.m. – Men's Triple Jump (Cedric Williams)
9:45 p.m. – Men's 4x400m Relay (John Finnegan, Eric Hughey, Cameron Hurd, Simon Petsch)