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“We’ve had some many guys face injuries this year that in order to make up the points we knew we would have to have guys step up,” Spooner said. “With guys like Jay [Wyss] and DeAngelo [Wilson] out, you’re talking about probably close to 100 points or so.” Spooner’s Rams stepped up and posted its seventh straight top-three finish at this weekend’s Colonial Athletic Association Championships, thanks in large part to individual titles captured by junior Piotr Dybas (Jaslo, Poland) in the 3000-meter steeplechase and sophomore Brian Wallace (Portsmouth, Va.) in the triple jump. “Of course you always want to win the title, but I’m pleased with the way we had so many guys step up this weekend,” Spooner stated. The Black & Gold finished with 145 points on the weekend, finishing just 13 points behind William & Mary and 39 points behind champion, UNC Wilmington. Dybas, who had already locked up a spot in the NCAA East Regionals in the steeplechase, added to his trophy case with a time of 8:59.02, good for 10 points for the Black & Gold. Wallace led a quintet of Rams’ scorers in the triple jump with a leap of 49’ ¾”. Following the sophomore were classmates Joe Edwards (Virginia Beach, Va.) in second place, Allan Moody (Woodbridge, Va.) in third place and Brandon Allen (Trenton, N.J.) in sixth place. Junior Dwayne Handon (Fairfax Station, Va.) finished seventh to round out the quintet. Wallace wasn’t done finishing third in the long jump with a mark of 23’ 6”, just behind classmate Antonio Norvell’s leap of 23’ 11 ½”, who finished second. Allen and Handon finished sixth and seventh in the long jump as well. The freshman duo of Ronnie Black (Newport News, Va.) and August Fischer (Richmond, Va.) combined for 11 points in the high jump finishing in second and sixth, respectively. Between the three jumping events (long jump, triple jump and high jump), the Black & Gold tallied 59 total points. It seems like a guarantee these days that the Rams will take home the 4x100 meter relay and they did it for the fourth straight year thanks to the quartet of Allen, Moody, Norvell and sophomore Kyle Jones. The team stopped the clock in 41.49 to secure their spot in the NCAA East Regionals. Norvell’s busy day continued with a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash, leading a trio of Rams with sophomore Donnie Seward (Richmond, Va.) and Jones, who finished fourth and sixth, respectively. The 22-point day of Norvell wrapped up with a third-place finish in the 4x400 meter relay, combining with Seward, sophomore Mike Nkwanga (Haymarket, Va.) and freshman Brice Matthews to clock in at 3:16.31. Seniors James Evangelisti (McLean, Va.) and Grant Matthews (Chester, Va.) had strong showings in their final CAA Championships, finishing third and fourth in the decathlon. The Rams are no where near being done with five more meets on the schedule leading up to NCAA East Regionals, which six different Black & Gold athletes are now qualified for after this weekend. FINAL TEAM STANDINGS 1. UNC Wilmington 184 2. William & Mary 158 3. VCU 145 4. George Mason 106 5. Delaware 104 6. Northeastern 87 7. Georgia State 26
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DYBAS, WALLACE CAPTURE TITLES IN RAMS’ THIRD PLACE FINISH AT CAA CHAMPIONSHIPSAll rights reserved.
