June 10, 2003
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SACRAMENTO, CA ... The George Mason University men's track & field team has four athletes competing in three events at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, being held from Wednesday, June 11 through Saturday, June 14, at Hornet Stadium on the campus of California State University in Sacramento.
The George Mason men's track & field team posted automatic qualifiers for the national championships in two events at the inaugural NCAA East Regional Track &Field Championships held at George Mason University on May 30-31. The top five finishers in individual events and the top three relays, in addition to six to eight "wild card" qualifiers in each event across the four regions, advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The field for the Championships increases 40 percent to at least 1,088 athletes and will feature the largest number of athletes assembled for an NCAA championship event.
George Mason's 4x100-meter relay of freshman Sam Sesay (Hyattsville, MD/Eleanor Roosevelt), two-time Olympian senior Serge Bengono (Yaounde, Cameroon/Younde), senior Henry Harris (Cleveland Heights, OH/Cleveland Heights/Essex CC) and sophomore Richard Phillips (St. Catherine, Jamaica/Ardenne/Abilene Christian) advance to the national meet after a third-place finish in a season-best 39.70 seconds - just .03 seconds off the school record. Phillips also automatically advanced to the national meet in the 110-meter hurdles after placing fourth in a season-best 13.94 seconds.
Bengono will also compete in Sacramento in the 100-meter dash. With a sixth-place finish in 10.45 seconds at the East Regional, he just missed the automatic qualification, but earned his berth as a wild card.
The Patriots kick off competition on Wednesday, June 11, with the preliminary rounds of all three events. Bengono opens competition for George Mason with the first round of the 100 meters at 10:45 a.m., and at 12:30 p.m. Phillips will compete in the 110-meter hurdles. The men's 4x1 will compete in the preliminary round at 6:05 p.m.
