March 9, 2003

BOSTON, MA ... The George Mason University men's track & field team scored 19 points to place 13th at the 82nd Annual Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (IC4A) Indoor Championships at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center in Boston, MA, over the weekend.

Penn State compiled 84 points to knock off defending champion Georgetown who finished third with 49 points. The Patriots were the highest placing team from the Colonial Athletic Association.

Since first competing in the meet in 1983, the men's team has won the indoor IC4As three consecutive times, from 1989 through 1991, and has amassed 13 top-five finishes, including placing fifth the past two years. The Patriot men have never finished out of the top 20.

Senior sprinter Serge Bengono (Yaounde, Cameroon/Younde) led the Patriots, scoring in two events. He finished third in the 55 meters in a season-best 6.35 seconds and then finished eighth in the 200 meters in a season-best 21.73 seconds.

Also scoring for George Mason was junior transfer Ricardo Cunningham (Clarendon, Jamaica/Vere Tech/SW Christian CC) placing third in the 800 meters in a season-best 1:51.46 and sophomore transfer Richard Phillips (St. Catherine, Jamaica/Ardenne/Abilene Christian) finishing third in the 55-meter hurdles in 7.43 seconds.

The men's 4x400-meter relay of Phillips, senior Kevin Nishiyama (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks East), sophomore Dominique Brown (Somerville, NJ/Somerville) and Cunningham posted a season-best time of 3:13.75 in the preliminary round, but was disqualified during the finals due to jostling between teams.

Junior Wayne Wright (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) finished just out of scoring range in the high jump, tying for ninth with a 6-foot, 7-inch performance.