Aug. 26, 2004

Former George Mason track standout Maurice Wignall is one step away from Olympic glory while Mason rising senior Richard Phillips will have to wait four more years for another shot at the world's biggest stage as the pair of Jamaicans competed in the semifinals of the 110-meter hurdles on Thursday with differing results. Maurice Wignall won the day's first semifinal, edging China's Xiang Liu at the line, posting the second-fastest time in this year's Olympics and the sixth-fastest in 2004. Wignall's time of 13.17 seconds places him in Lane 5 for Friday's finals. Liu finished in 13.18 with Latvia's Stanislavs Olijars and Canada's Charles Allen finishing third and fourth, respectively, in 13.20 and 13.23. Phillips was not quite fast enough to advance out of his heat. The 21-year-old was sixth in his semifinal with a time of 13.47. He needed to finish in the top four in his heat to advance to the finals, but he trailed fourth-place finisher Mateus Inocencio of Brazil by .15 seconds. France's Ladji Doucoure won the heat with a time of 13.06, making him the only person to run faster than Wignall at the 2004 Olympics. Phillips, who begins his senior year at Mason next week, was the fastest out of the blocks, but was overtaken by the runners to his left, Doucoure, and Cuba's Anier Garcia, the 2000 Olympic gold medalist. Also advancing out of Phillips' heat was Terrence Trammel of the United States. Wignall will have his work cut out for him in Friday's final, which is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. EDT. Five of the other seven runners have faster personal bests. However, few have run as well and as consistently as Wignall over the past three days of competition. Wignall competed at George Mason from 1997 through 2000. He is the school's record holder in the long jump (outdoors) and he won the long jump championship at the 1999 NCAA Indoor Championships. He earned All-American status six times while at George Mason, four times in the long jump, twice in the 60-meter hurdles. Wignall also has the school's third-fastest time in the 110-meter hurdles. Phillips' holds the school record in the 110-meter hurdles.