ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Senior Murphy Smith sets a program record to highlight the Wesley Brown Invitational for the Navy track and field teams on Saturday at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis, Md. The meet did not have team scoring.
"The highlight of the meet for us this week was Murphy Smith setting a school record in the 3,000m. It was a well position race and a tough performance to hammer out the last 1,000 meters. Seeing the work he and coach [Aaron] Lanzel put in has been great," remarked director of track and field Jamie Cook. "The team been slowly improving and we got a chance to see a lot of the newcomers and I think they're doing very well. The effort was better there was a ton of personal records set today that was really good to see."
Smith recorded a time of 7:55.05 to win the 3,000m run. He breaks a 14-year school record previously set by Cody Rome (7:55.12) in 2011. Smith's record time was also a Wesley A. Brown Field House facility record that was held by Stephen Schroeder (7:58.61) in 2015.
Joining Smith in setting top 10 times is junior Nathan Kent who opened his season with the fourth fastest 200m dash time of 21.12 to finish first. Kent also placed first in the 60m with a career-best time of 6.88.
Isabella VonLehaman gave the women's team the victory in the 60m dash with a time of 7.90.
Simon Alexander won his first individual collegiate event in the 400m when he clocked a personal-best time of 49.97. Alexander also placed fifth in the 200m with a time of 22.02.
Senior team captains Jacques Guillaume and Taylor Woodworth won their respective events in the 500m. Guillaume ran a career-best time of 1:03.42 while Woodworth clocked a time of 1:13.45.
Freshman Marianna Pizem continues her impressive start to the season as she won the 800m event for the second time. Pizem recorded a time of 2:16.96.
The men's team earned victories in the 800m and 1,000m. William Gravitt won the 800m for the first time this season with a time of 1:51.28. Senior Jack Lange began his indoor campaign winning the 1,000m with a time of 2:28.46.
Alex Wercinski set a new carer mark in the 1,000m with a time of 2:52.33 to win the event.
Sophie Compton won the mile for the first time in her career with a time of 4:51.62. She finished six seconds ahead of second place runner and fellow Midshipmen, Mia-Claire Kezal.
Navy swept the 3,000m event as May McConkey took first place with a career-best time of 10:07.05.
The men's team captured both relay events taking the 4x400m and 4x800m. The pairing of Cooper Wakley, Jamison Scott, Matthew Dunaski and Mason Wokoma posted a time of 3:28.81 in the 4x400m. The 4x800m relay squad of Charles Skaggs, Austin Durfee, Matthew Quispe and Nicholas Hamby recorded the fastest time at 7:47.97.
The women's 4x800m quartet featured Compton, Kate Leddy, Samantha Woodworth and Kezal posted the top time of 9:22.62.
In the field events on the men's side, the Mids claimed first place in the high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump and weight throw.
Nigel Vidale won his first collegiate event in the high jump with a height of 2.01m (6' 7"). Vidale's big day carried over in the 60m hurdles where he finished second with a time of 8.56.
Gunnar Kimball won the pole vault event for the second time this season with a height of 5.00m (16' 4.75").
Colby Fahrney won the long jump event for the seventh time in his career with a mark of 7.12m (23' 4.5"). He was 0.5m shy of tying his career-best mark.
Joseph Hurt took the triple jump crown with a distance of 14.30m (46' 11") on his first jump of the day.
Keyshawn Dolford registered a career-best weight throw mark of 16.40m (53' 9.75"). Dolford also had a strong showing in the shot put placing fifth with a throw of 14.02m (46' 0").
In the women's field events, the Mids won all six events.
Samantha Bollinger won the triple jump and the long jump events. She posted a career best mark in the long jump with a mark of 5.67m (18' 7.25") to secure her first long jump victory of the season. Bollinger captured her second triple jump crown with a distance of 12.16m (39' 10.75").
Jordynn Hutchinson led the way in the shot put and weight throw for the first time this season. In the shot put she threw a distance of 13.50m (44' 3.5"). Hutchinson put on an impressive performance in the weight throw with a toss of 17.36m (56' 11.5"), nearly 2m further than Nalina Smith who finished in second (15.85m / 52" 0').
Freshman Zoie Tesi led the Midshipmen in the high jump with a height of 1.67m (5' 5.75"), her mark was .04m from tying the 10th best mark in program history.
Sophia Hill rounds out the field events for the women's team with the top finish in the pole vault with a mark of 3.70m (12' 1.5").
Justice Hood placed first in the men's heptathlon with 5,049 points as he placed first in the pole vault 4.05m (13' 3.5") and second in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.58.
Sarah Perico won the women's pentathlon with career best 3,335 total points. She also recorded career best marks in the shot put (10.62m / 34' 10.25") and in the long jump (5.48m / 17' 11.75").
