April 19, 2007

HARRISONBURG, Va. - George Mason's men's and women's track and field teams will compete for the conference title this weekend when they travel to Harrisonburg, Va. to compete in the Colonial Athletic Association Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The two-day championship meet will be held at the James Madison Track and Field Complex.

Leading the women's team will be sophomore Murielle Ahoure, who proved she was one of the top sprinters in the conference at last year's meet, taking home the CAA title in both the 100- and 200-meter dash on her way to being named the Most Outstanding Track Performer at the championships. Ahoure is Mason's lone NCAA East Regional qualifier, having qualified in both the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash with times of 11.41 seconds and 23.61 seconds, respectively.

Two other members of the women's team have qualified for the ECAC Outdoor Championships, including freshman Tiara Swindell and sophomore Ryann Hendricks. Both have qualified for the ECAC Championships in two events. Swindell qualified in the 200-meter dash (24.51 seconds) and 400-meter dash (55.83 seconds), while Hendricks hit her qualifying marks in the long jump (5.80 meters) and the triple jump (12.20 meters).

While the men's team has not had an athlete reach the NCAA East Regional qualifying standard yet, the Patriots have had three members of the team qualify for the IC4A Outdoor Championships. Among them are freshman Michael Pachella, who qualified in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:51.24; graduate student Charles Millioen, who qualified in the 5000-meter run with a time of 14:34.67; and junior Brian Hay, who qualified in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.57 seconds.

Defending their team titles at this year's CAA Championships will be VCU on the men's side and William and Mary on the women's side. George Mason's men's and women's teams both finished in fifth place at last year's meet.

The meet will begin on Friday at 10 a.m. with the men's javelin. The running events are slated to start at 1 p.m. with the women's 1500-meter run trials. The championships will come to a close on Saturday with the men's 4x400-meter relay scheduled for 4:25 p.m.