March 29, 2004

Raleigh, N.C. - In just the second meet of the outdoor season, the George Mason men's track and field team has already run its number of qualifiers for the NCAA East Regional to seven as Richard Phillips, Ricardo Melbourne and Ryan McCoy all earned bids to the late-May meet at Gainesville, Fla. Their qualifying performances came at the Raleigh Relays this weekend.

Richard Phillips qualified in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.15, finishing third in the event. Phillips was an All-American in the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships earlier this month and he is expected to qualify in the 110-meter hurdles later this season. If he does, he will join Ricardo Melbourne, who was sixth in the event on Saturday with a time of 14.00 seconds.

Marc Kellman had previously qualified in the triple jump and teammate Ryan McCoy joined him as McCoy was fourth and Kellman was sixth in the triple jump. McCoy had a jump of 15.43 meters, easily surpassing the qualifying mark.

Also competing for the men's team were Michael Akindele in the 800, Dennis Moriarty and Andy Tramel in the 1500 and Jonathan Martin in the triple jump.

The women had a fair number of competitors as well, and one new qualifier for the NCAA East Regional. Sheena Davidson, already having qualified last week for the 400-meters, added the 400-meter hurdles to the list as she finished fourth with a time of 59.81. The 4X400-meter relay team had already qualified and they improved their time as they were second in 3 minutes, 40.81 seconds. The 4X200-meter team was seventh in 1:38.33 while the 4X100-meter relay team was eighth in 46.64. The 4X800-meter relay team competed as well, finishing 24th in 9:52.11.

Also competing at the meet were Sheena Goss in the 800, Dana Early and Ryann Holmes in the 1500, Jessica Young in the 3000 steeplechase and Corri Allen and Aisha Williams in the triple jump.

Results from the Raleigh Relays
Men
110-meter hurdles - Ricardo Melbourne - 14.00 - 6th
200-meter dash - Richard Phillips - 21.15 - 3rd
800-meter run - Michael Akindele - 2:01.81 - 23rd
Triple Jump - Ryan McCoy - 15.43m - 4th
Triple Jump - Marc Kellman - 15.23m - 6th
Triple Jump - Jonathan Martin - 13.12m - 26th
1500-meter run - Dennis Moriarty - 4:14.20 - 51st
1500-meter run - Andy Tramel - 4:18.92 - 64th
Women
800-meter run - Sheena Goss - 2:14.57 - 19th
Triple Jump - Corri Allen - 11.58m - 20th
Triple Jump - Aisha Williams - 11.27m - 29th
3000-meter steeplechase - Jessica Young - 13:35.63 - 24th
1500-meter run - Dana Early - 4:53.90 - 18th
1500-meter run - Ryann Holmes - 5:10.61 - 70th
4X100-meter relay - 46.63 - 8th
4X200-meter relay - 1:38.33 - 7th
4X400-meter relay - 3:40.81 - 2nd
4X800-meter relay - 9:52.11 - 24th