WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Senior Torey Doaty won the 400m hurdles and the Hawks met IC4A qualification in six individual events as the Saint Joseph's men's track and field squad turned in a ninth-place team finish in a field of 46 at the 52 Annual Colonial Relays, hosted by the College of William and Mary this past Thursday through Saturday. The Hawks totaled 30 points over the three-day meet.
On Friday afternoon, Doaty flew through the 400m hurdles in an IC4A-qualifying time of 53.22 to edge out Rutgers' Kyle Holder and Princeton's Gab Montefalcone and Spencer Long for the victory. The performance was good for 10 points, a third of SJU's total at the meet. Doaty had previously placed eighth in the event in 2016 and fifth in 2015; Friday's time marked his fastest down at the Colonial Relays.
Dan Savage was SJU's other Hawk to both qualifying for the IC4A Championships and score in his event as the senior turned in a 3000m steeplechase time of 9:15.23, good for fifth in the field of 43, on Friday evening. The performance earned five points for the Crimson and Gray.
A quartet of Hawks added IC4A-qualifying performances in senior Jimmy Daniels, juniors Dave Garton and Anthony Morelli and sophomore Dylan Eddinger.
Daniels placed 12th in a 5k field of 94 with a time of 14:32.78 on Friday evening. Daniels crushed his previous PR in the event – set at the 2014 Colonial Relays – by 17.03 seconds. Between eight indoor and outdoor seasons, Daniels has raced the 5k 14 times - Friday's time sits atop them all.
On Friday evening, Garton turned in a 1500m time of 3:54.23, an improvement upon his previous PR by 15.32 seconds. The junior just missed scoring by .34 seconds with an 11th-place finish in the field of 94.
Morelli ran 31:17.08 for 10k to qualify for the IC4A Championships on Thursday evening. The junior improved upon his previous PR - set at the 2016 Colonial Relays - by 58.76 seconds to cross in 15th out of 47 distance runners.
On Friday evening, Eddinger cruised through the 800m in 1:53.83 for 24th in a field of 100.
Aside from the individual scoring performances from Doaty and Savage, the Hawks saw four more points come out of a middle distance event and their remaining 11 points explode from relays.
On Thursday evening, sophomore Justin Branco cruised through his first collegiate track and field 3000m in 8:33.97 to finish sixth overall in the field of 37, good for four points for the Crimson and Gray.
SJU's Sprint Medley Relay of freshman Justin Moscoe, senior Kevin Barry, Doaty, senior Eddison Gulama, and Doaty finished fourth in a field of 21 (3:27.36) for five points.
SJU's three additional scoring relays in the 4x800m relay of junior Dan Ferraiolo, Eddinger, junior Barren McCoy, and senior Jack Magee (7:46.90), the Distance Medley Relay of Garton, junior McCoy, Ferraiolo, and freshman Zach Michon (10:09.23), and the 4x1500m relay of freshman John Walker, junior Collin Crilly, freshman Josh Clark, and Branco (16:03.85) all placed seventh in their respective races, good for two points apiece and six combined.
Additionally, sophomore John Podles won his heat to place 12th in the 3000m steeplechase (9:25.82 PR), over a seven-second improvement on his PR, while Clark also turned in a top-ten finish in in the 3k 10th overall (8:38.60).
Saint Joseph's returns to action next weekend at both the Sam Howell Invitational, to be hosted by Princeton University in Princeton, N.J. on Friday, April 7, and the Rider Invitational, to be hosted by Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. on Saturday, April 8.
