March 11, 2004

A pair of George Mason track and field athletes will compete this weekend at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships at Fayetteville, Ark. The Patriots are sending Alyce Williams and Richard Phillips to the national meet where they will compete in the triple jump and 60-meter hurdles, respectively.

Phillips will be the first to compete, taking to the track at 5:20 p.m. on Friday. He qualified 14th out of 18 competitors after winning the IC4A Championship last weekend. His seed time is 7.79 seconds. If he advances to the finals, he would via for All-American honors at 8:20 p.m. in the finals.

Williams will have to wait until Saturday afternoon to take on the nation's best collegians in the triple jump. Her event starts at 4:10 p.m. with preliminary and final jumps. Williams qualified with a distance of 13.08-meters, placing her 16th out of 17 competitors. Williams was 17th last year, but that time, the NCAA only accepted 16 competitors in the triple jump, leaving her home.