ANNAPOLIS, Md.—The Navy men's track and field team concluded day one of the Patriot League Indoor Championship on Saturday in second place with 55 points.
The Mids won the 5,000m and the 4x800m relay during the opening day of competition. The Midshipmen trail first-place Army by 19 points through five events with 13 events remaining.
"The goal of the first day is to qualify to compete on day two, we we're fighting for every hundredth of a second to get qualifiers," said Navy Director of Track and Field Jamie Cook. 'The pole vault was impressive and the men's 5,000m was dominant. When you win an event going 1-2-3, it's hard not to be happy about that. Every point is important in this meet and that's what we try to focus on when we talk to our group."
Navy scored 24 points in the 5,000 meters run as Murphy Smith (14:04.85) became the second person in league history to win the event in back-to-back years, joining former Navy runner Andrew Hanko (2010-11). Alexander Kirkland (14:07.42) and Jackson Nguyen (14:08.72) finished second and third respectively.
"Coach Lanzel always has our distance runners ready and Murphy ran a great race," said Cook.
Navy won its second event of the day in the 4x800m relay. The team consisting of Dane Eike, Luke Nester, Carson Sloat and Matt Newell ran the fourth-best time in school history winning in a time of 7:28.95. Newell was able to hold off Boston's Foster Malleck for the close victory.
"That was a gutsy performance by our relay team that came down to the wire," said Cook.
Gunnar Kimball and Brian Schloeder added 14 team points in the pole vault taking second and third respectively. Kimball tied his season-best mark of 5.00m (16' 4.75") to finish second. Schloeder's mark of 4.90m (16' 0.75") was good enough for third.
Navy claimed the top three spots in the 60m semifinals sprint to punch their tickets to the finals on Sunday. Tyler Yurich paced all runners with the second-fastest time in Navy history, winning in a time of 6.79. Marcel Jackson took second with a time of 6.84, which is tied for ninth in program history. Jonah Johnson rounded out the trio with a third-place finish as he clocked a career-best time of 6.85.
Johnson also finished third in the 200m semifinals with a time of 21.51. Three other Midshipmen joined Johnson in the top eight to post qualifying times, with Nathan Kent winning the event with a top time of 21.46. Yurich finished second with a personal best time of 21.50. Senior team captain Jacques Guillaume secured the final qualifying spot by .13 seconds with a time of 21.66.
Navy also took the top three spots in the 400m semifinals. Guillaume won the event for the second time this season with a run of 47.90. Kent took second with a time of 47.93. Pete deJonge finished third with a time of 48.50.
The Mids ended day one winning three of the four heptathlon events, taking first in the 60m dash, long jump and high jump. Nick Simmons won the 60m sprint with a time of 7.12. Aiden Cartier secured the top spot in the long jump with a mark of 7.01m (23' 0") on his first attempt. Thomas Christie won the high jump with a height of 1.98m (6' 6").
Justice Hood had a strong start in the heptathlon taking second in the shot put (13.47m / 44' 2.5"), third in the 60m sprint (7.23) and fifth in the long jump (6.54m / 21' 5.5").
The final day of competition will start at 11 AM on Sunday at Wesley Brown Field House at the Naval Academy. TV coverage will start at 12 noon on ESPN+
Patriot League Men's Indoor Championship Day One Standings
1. Army (74 points)
2. Navy (55 points)
3. Bucknell (19 points)
4. Colgate (14 points)
5. Lehigh (11 points)
6. Lafayette (8 points)
7. Boston University (6 points)
8. American (5 points)
9. Holy Cross (3 points)
