Breiter and Tompkins Medal; Nine 'Cats Qualify for Finals at A-10's

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

Breiter and Tompkins Medal; Nine 'Cats Qualify for Finals at A-10's

5/6/2023 9:05:00 PM | Men's Track & Field

AMHERST, Mass. – Grahm Breiter and Nick Tompkins took home silver medals on the first day of the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships in Amherst, Massachusetts on Saturday. On top of that, nine Wildcats qualified for Sunday's finals.

Rhode Island leads the team standings after the first day with 78 points, and Davidson sits in sixth with 16 points.

Grahm Breiter ended the day on a high note after he smashed the 3,000-meter steeplechase record and captured his first-career Atlantic 10 medal with a second-place finish. The California native stopped the timer in 9:01.20 to break Vincent Weir's previous record of 9:08.72 from 2013. This time also puts Breiter inside the top 60 on the NCAA East Preliminary qualifying list.

Also scoring for the Wildcats was junior Nick Tompkins. Tompkins cleared marks of 1.89 and 1.94 meters to get warmed up, then he was successful on his third try with the bar at 1.99 meters. When the mark was raised to 2.02, Tompkins, VCU's Christian DuBois, and La Salle's Dennis Manyeah remained.

DuBois was unsuccessful on all three tries while Tompkins and Manyeah avoided the bar on their third try. Tompkins then made a clutch jump and put the pressure on Manyeah after clearing 2.05 for the first time in his career. Manyeah missed his second try, got it on the third try, then dodged the bar at 2.08 meters to capture gold. Saturday's mark of 2.05 still puts Tompkins in the top 60 on the NCAA East Prelim rankings and was enough to earn his first-career A-10 medal.

In track preliminary events, nine Wildcats moved on to Sunday's finals. To no surprise, all four 'Cats qualified in the 110-meter hurdles. Jayden Smith showed off a 13.54 prelim time with a 4.2 wind factor, and Jordan Benson had the third-best qualifying time at 14.03 seconds. Isaac Bynum and Bryce Anthony got into Sunday's final heat by finishing 6,7 with times of 14.24 and 14.25 respectively.

Bynum and Anthony also solidified their spots in the 400-meter hurdle finals. Bynum finished second in the prelims with a mark of 52.57, and Anthony was right behind when he recorded a 53.08.

Two Wildcats ran the top times in their respective events during the preliminary rounds. Josh Hardin entered rare company when he crossed the finish line of the 200-meter prelims in 47.24 seconds. He becomes just the second Wildcat to run the event in under 47.30.

Massachuesetts native Owen Drometer shined in the 800-meter prelims after he ran the fastest qualifying time of 1:50.11, and Jayden Smith rounded out Davidson's qualifiers after he ran the 200-meters in 21.90. This was good for seventh-fastest heading into tomorrow.

Another noteworthy performance was junior sprinter Chinedu Okeke who broke the school record in the 100-meters with a time of 10.72. Okeke missed the finals by .003 seconds as his tie-breaking time of 10.715 was a hair behind Fordham's Christian Weddington at 10.711.

The championships will conclude tomorrow with 16 track finals, six field event finals, and six relays.

Davidson Entries
100m
10. Chinedu Okeke – 10.72 SR

200m
7. Jayden Smith – 21.90 q
10. Josh Hardin – 22.03

400m
1. Josh Hardin – 47.24 Q

800m
1. Owen Drometer – 1:50.11 Q
10. Jack Muldoon – 1:52.39

1500m
Joe dosReis
Henry Griffith
Grahm Breiter

5000m
Charlie Siebert

10,000m
10. Charlie Siebert – 30:29.35

3,000 steeple
2. Grahm Breiter – 9:01.20 SR

110H
1. Jayden Smith – 13.54 (4.2) Q
3. Jordan Benson – 14.03 Q
6. Isaac Bynum – 14.24 q
7. Bryce Anthony – 14.25 (4.2) q

400H
2. Isaac Bynum – 52.57 Q
3. Bryce Anthony – 53.08 Q
15. Amit Markos – 56.90
21. Lukas Valley – 59.37

Triple Jump
Dylan Ameres
Jack Curtin

High Jump
2. Nick Tompkins – 2.05m

Javelin
10. Nick Masterman – 45.82m

Shot Put
Jack Stajos

Discus
Jack Stajos