March 27, 2010
Complete Results
Watch FloTrack's Video Interview with Ruffin
RALEIGH, N.C. - The George Mason track and field team traveled to the campus of North Carolina State University this weekend to take part in the Reebok Raleigh Relays and came away with a number of strong finishes to go with 17 IC4A and ECAC qualifying performances.
Mason had nine individual performances along with two relays on the men's side and five on the women's side along with one relay surpass the qualifying standards for the IC4A and ECAC Championships, which will take place in May.
For the Patriot men, the 100-meter dash saw sophomore Rachaunn Ruffin and freshman David Verburg each met the IC4A time. Ruffin ran the fastest time of the preliminaries, 10.45 seconds, but did not compete in the finals. Verburg's top time of 10.76 came in the prelims, and he advanced to the finals where he finished eighth.
In the 200-meter dash, the men had three qualifiers. Ruffin won the event with a time of 20.78 while Nick Vaughn was third with his mark of 21.18, which ranks 10th in the Patriots' all-time performance list. Verburg also surpassed the IC4A qualifying mark with a time of 21.65, good for seventh place.
Another event, the 400-meter dash, gave the Patriots two more IC4A qualifiers. Sophomore Ja-Vell Bullard was ninth with a time of 47.88 while junior Kevin Wilson finished in 14th place with a mark of 48.12. The final two qualifiers were senior Scott Tekesky who completed the 10,000-meter run in 30:25.47 and sophomore LaVell Handy, whose time of 14.27 improved on his previous IC4A qualifying time in the 110-meter hurdles. The time ranks 10th on Mason's all-time performance list in the event. Handy went on to finish sixth in the finals.
Finally, the men's 4x100-meter and 4x800-meter relays both qualified. The 4x100 consisting of Vaughn, Verburg, junior Dwight Webley and Bullard finished sixth with an IC4A-qualifying time of 41.11. The 4x800 consisted of Wilson, senior Marcus Wyche, freshman George Empty and Bullard placed eighth with a time of 3:12.37. Although not an IC4A qualifier, Mason's relay of Ruffin, Vaughn, Bullard and Verburg earned the top time with a mark of 1:23.92, the fourth-fastest in school history. Among the other top performances by Mason athletes was sophomore Brandon Holmberg's hammer throw mark of 44.88 meters, surpassing his own school record.
Mason's women were headlined by six total ECAC qualifiers. Senior Marie Fields completed the 100-meter dash in 12.03 which gave her a birth in the finals, while classmate Tiara Swindell placed second with a qualifying time of 54.85 in the 400-meter dash. Sophomore Cierra McGee also qualified for the ECAC meet in the 400, crossing the line in 55.86. McGee and Swindell also qualified in the 200-meter dash, recording times of 24.36 and 24.69, respectively.
The women's 4x400-meter relay of freshman Shantel Miles, Fields, freshman Crystal Clark and Swindell qualified for the ECAC Championships and finished fifth with a time of 3:46.13. Another relay, the sprint medley which was comprised of Fields, McGee, Swindell and freshman Laura Sinclair placed second with a mark of 4:02.08. Two other notable performances were junior Chia Hudson's seventh-place finish in the long jump of 5.70 meters and freshman Sandy Castro's 17:34.35 time in the 5,000-meter run, a mark which ranks eighth on Mason's all-time list.
The Patriots will return to action next weekend in a pair of meets, as Mason will take part in both the Florida Relays in Gainesville as well as the Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Va.
FloTrack.org Interviews Mason's Rachaunn Ruffin
