May 10, 2007
PRINCETON, N.J. -
Both the men's and women's track and field teams will travel to Princeton, N.J. this weekend to compete in their first major championship meet of the 2007 outdoor season since the CAA Championships. The men's team will compete in the IC4A Championships, while the women's team will compete in the ECAC Championships. Both meets will run from Friday, May 11 through Sunday, May 13 at William Weaver Track and Field Stadium on the campus of Princeton University.
The men's team, the defending IC4A Champions, will compete in five events at the meet - the 400-meter dash, the 5000-meter run, the 110-meter hurdles, the 4x400-meter relay and the 4x800-meter relay. Only one athlete will run on the first day of the meet, graduate student Charles Millioen, who qualified for the championships in the 5000-meter run, slated for a 6:40 p.m. start time on Friday. Millioen's best time of the year came at the Colonial Relays on April 6 when he finished the race in 14:34.67.
The men are scheduled to compete in four events on Saturday's second day of action. Junior Brian Hay will begin the day when he runs in the preliminary heats of the 110-meter hurdles, scheduled for 11:15 a.m. Hay ran the top time of his career at last weekend's Patriot Open Invitational at George Mason Stadium, qualifying for both the IC4A Championships and the NCAA East Regional Championships with a time of 14.12 seconds.
Sophomore Mutsa Nyakabau also set a new personal standard at the Patriot Open Invitational, running a time of 48.48 seconds in the 400-meter dash. He will run in the preliminary heats of the event at the IC4A Championships, slated to begin at noon on Saturday. The men's team will finish off the day with the preliminary rounds of two relay events, the 4x800-meter relay, scheduled for 1:20 p.m., and the 4x400-meter relay, scheduled for 1:45 p.m. The finals of all four of Saturday's events will be held on Sunday.
While the women's team won't compete in any of Friday's events, they have a full day of action scheduled for Saturday, competing in five events, the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dash, the long jump and the 4x100-meter relay. The team of Ryann Hendricks, Tiara Swindell, Marie Fields and Murielle Ahoure will start the day off for the women, running in the preliminary heats of the 4x100-meter relay at 2:45 p.m. The team ran its fastest time of the year at the CAA Championships on April 21, crossing the finish line in 46.00 seconds to finish as the runner-up in the event.
Hendricks will compete in the team's only field event of the day, the long jump, which is slated for a 3 p.m. start time. The sophomore recorded the best jump of her career in the event during the outdoor season at last weekend's Patriot Open Invitational, leaping 5.81 meters. The Chicago, Ill. native will also compete in the triple jump, scheduled for Sunday at 11 a.m.
Ahoure will defend her title in two events at the meet - the 100- and 200-meter dash. The preliminary heats of the 100-meter dash are scheduled to begin at 3:45 p.m. and the preliminary heats of the 200-meter dash are slated for 5:25 p.m. Ahoure ran the top time of her career in the 100-meter dash this season at the Mason Spring Classic on March 31 with a time of 11.41 seconds. The Bristow, Va. native ran her best time of the year in the 200-meter dash at the CAA Championships, finishing in 23.48 seconds to capture her second consecutive conference title.
Swindell, a freshman from Hampton, Va., will run in the 200-meter dash along with Ahoure and will be Mason's lone representative in the 400-meter dash. Both of her personal bests came at this year's CAA Championships, where she finished in 24.09 seconds in the 200-meter dash and in 55.11 seconds in the 400-meter dash to capture the conference title in the event.
The preliminary heats of the 400-meter dash are slated to begin at 4:05 p.m. The finals of each of the events the women are scheduled to compete in on Saturday will be held on Sunday, with the exception of the long jump.
