May 18, 2008
PRINCETON, N.J. - One day after freshman Dwight Webley earned the long jump title, the George Mason men's and women's track and field teams recorded a number of top-five finishes in the final day of competition at the 2008 IC4A and ECAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships at William Weaver Stadium in Princeton, N.J. Both the men's and women's teams finished 12th in the team standings.
Junior Murielle Ahoure, who placed first in the preliminaries of the 100-meter and 200-meter dash on Saturday, earned third and second place in those events, respectively. Ahoure ran the 100-meter dash in 11.63, just behind Connecticut's Trisha Hawthorne who won the title in 11.51. Hawthorne again bested Ahoure in the 200-meter dash, as her 23.35-second time edged Ahoure's time of 23.67.
Sophomore Tiara Swindell improved upon her 400-meter placement from the preliminaries as she ran the event in 54.94, good for fourth place. Swindell earned the eighth and final spot in yesterday's preliminaries with a 54.91 mark. In the triple jump event, junior Ryann Hendricks placed fourth with a 12.66-meter jump, while freshman Chia Hudson finished 29th with her 11.19-meter distance. The Mason women's 4x100-meter relay team of Hendricks, Swindell, sophomore Marie Fields and Ahoure finished fourth in the finals of the competition with a 46.08 time.
On the men's side, senior Ryan McCoy narrowly missed a second IC4A title for the Patriots, as he finished second in the triple jump with a 15.42-meter distance. Albany's Michael McCadney took the gold with a 15.59-meter jump. Webley finished eighth in the event with a 14.90-meter jump. Additionally, the men's 4x800-meter relay squad picked up a seventh-place finish as they completed the event in 7:36.54.
Overall, the Mason women finished with 29 points, while the men earned 22 total points. Connecticut claimed the women's team title with 83 points, while Liberty earned the men's crown with 62 points.
The Patriots will use the next two weeks to train for the NCAA East Regional Championships, hosted by Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla., on May 30 and 31.
