May 24, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - George Mason's men's and women's track and field teams will travel to Gainesville, Fla. this weekend to compete in the NCAA East Regional Track and Field Championships, which begin on Friday at James G. Pressly Stadium on the campus of the University of Florida. Three members of the women's team and one member of the men's team will compete at the regional meet with a berth in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at stake. The top five finishers in each individual event will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, scheduled for June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif.

The lone member of the men's team competing at the regional meet is junior Brian Hay (Kingston, Jamaica/Calabar) in the 110-meter hurdles. Hay set a new personal record in the event with a time of 14.12 seconds at the Patriot Open Invitational at George Mason Stadium on May 5.

Hay will run in the third heat of the preliminary rounds of the 110-meter hurdles, slated for a 4:10 p.m. start on Friday. He will run against UMBC's Keith Brown, Syracuse's Ramon Sosa, Cornell's Saidu Ezike, Maryland's Dominic Berger, UNC-Wilmington's Zeickia Ledwell and Florida's Kallinka Pitt. Berger has the fastest time among the group, clocking in at 13.54 seconds. The winners of each of the four heats plus the next four best times will all advance to the finals of the event, scheduled for Saturday.

The women's team will have athletes competing in four individual events at the meet. Sophomore Murielle Ahoure (Bristow, Va./Hayfield Secondary) will run in both the 100- and 200-meter dash, sophomore Ryann Hendricks (Chicago, Ill./Chicago Christian) will compete in the triple jump and freshman Tiara Swindell (Hampton, Va./Kecoughtan) will run in the 400-meter dash.

Ahoure has previous experience at the regional level in both the 100- and 200-meter dash. She ran in both events at last year's East Regional Championship meet in Greensboro, N.C. before becoming one of only three freshman in the nation to compete at last year's National Championships in the 100-meter dash and the lone freshman in the 200-meter dash.

This season, she set a new personal standard in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.41 seconds at the Mason Spring Classic at George Mason Stadiumon March 31. Her top time in the 200-meter dash this season is 23.48 seconds, which she ran in the finals of the event at the CAA Championships in Harrisonburg, Va. on April 21 to set a new meet record.

The preliminary heats of the women's 100-meter dash are slated to begin at 5:10 p.m. on Friday. Ahoure will be racing in heat three against five other athletes, including Charleston Southern's Dionne Gibson, West Virginia's Jessica Czaikowski, Virginia Tech's Patrice Potts, Maryland-Eastern Shore's Danieth Pryce and Charlotte's LaJarsha Moses. Potts has the top time in the heat, clocking in at 11.40 seconds, with Ahoure's 11.41 seconds a close second.

Later in the evening on Friday, Ahoure will run in the preliminary heats of the women's 200-meter dash, scheduled for 7:50 p.m. She will race four competitors in the third heat, including South Carolina's Shalonda Solomon, Georgia State's Denice Vance, Binghamton's Kim Williams and Delaware State's Nekisha Franklin. Similar to the 100-meter dash, Ahoure has the second fastest time among her competition in the heat. Solomon has the fastest time in the heat, with a time of 22.74 seconds. In both the 100- and 200-meter dash, the winners of each of the four heats plus the next best four times will advance to Saturday's finals.

Both Hendricks and Swindell will be competing in their individual events for the first time at the regional level. Hendricks qualified for the regional meet in the triple jump with a leap of 12.33 meters (40 ft. 5.5 in.) at this year's CAA Championships in Harrisonburg, Va. The mark was the best of her two-year career at George Mason, earning her the CAA title in the event.

The trials and finals of the women's triple jump are scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Saturday, with Hendricks set to perform the initial jump in the first flight. Also jumping in the first flight will be Fordham's Kerstin Greene, Penn State's Lena Bettis, Florida's Shara Proctor, Army's Janelle Jones, Long Island's Heather Patton, James Madison's Adrienne Mayo, Clemson's Nakeisha Wineglass, Cornell's Karen Snyder and Virginia's Katie Tershel. Greene has the top mark in the flight, with a jump of 12.42 meters. There will be four flights in the triple jump, with each flight having 10 athletes competing against each other. Out of those 40 competitors, the top nine marks will advance to the final round.

Swindell qualified for the East Regional Championships in her first season at George Mason on the strength of her performance at the CAA Championships. In the 400-meter dash, Swindell took home the conference title and set a new personal record in the event with a time of 55.11 seconds.

The freshman will be running in heat four in the preliminary rounds of the 400-meter dash, scheduled to begin at 5:50 p.m. on Friday. Swindell will run against Richmond's Jessica Young, Morgan State's Janice Smythe, Maryland-Eastern Shore's Tanisha Wisdom, Princeton's Agatha Offerjebe and Miami's Ginou Etienne. Etienne ran the fastest time among the group, with a time of 52.46 seconds. The winners of each of the five heats, plus the next three best times will all advance to the final round of the event on Saturday.

Live results from the meet can be found on the web at http://www.gatorzone.com.