May 30, 2004

Gainesville, Fla. - Richard Phillips had a terrific day on Saturday and the George Mason junior earned a trip to Austin, Texas where he will compete in the 110-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash. Ricardo Melbourne and Marc Kellman will join Phillips, competing in the 110-meter hurdles and triple jump, respectively.

Competing at the NCAA East Regional in Gainesville, Fla., Phillips won the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 13.52 seconds, finishing just ahead of Josh Walker of Florida. Melbourne was comfortably fourth in the event with a time of 13.72. Like Melbourne, Phillips was comfortably fourth in the 200-meter dash, finishing in a time of 20.65 seconds. Jerome Mathis of Hampton won the race with a time of 20.32 seconds.

Kellman, a sophomore transfer from West Virginia, leaped 15.54 meters in the triple jump, finishing just ahead of Antonio Saunders of Georgia. Winning the event was Chavous Nichols of Penn State, with a leap of 16.55 meters.

The top five finishers in each event advanced to the NCAA Tournament, spelling bad news for Alyce Williams. The George Mason sophomore was eighth in the women's triple jump but the Indoor All-American won't get to compete in two weeks at the NCAA Championships. Also coming up short on Saturday was Ryan McCoy, who was 13th in the men's triple jump, Nichole Brown, who was 15th in the women's high jump, and the women's 4X400-meter relay team, which was 10th.

As a team, the George Mason men finished fifth at the NCAA East Regional with 24 points. Florida, the host school, won the meet with 125.5 points. The Florida women won their meet with 85 points while the Patriots were tied for 51st in the women's field with 1 point.