The George Mason men's 4X400-meter relay team improved on its showing
from a year ago at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships while
sophomore Chris Carrington
finished the indoor season with a point-scoring
performance in the 800 meters as both Carrington and the relay team finished
sixth on Saturday.
Carrington, who led his preliminary heat for the first
three-quarters of the race on Friday, raced from the back of the pack on
Saturday. The sophomore made a late charge, however, and earned a sixth-place
finish while picking up three points for the Patriots. Carrington ran a
1:50.03, nearly three seconds off the time of 1:47.30 that gave him an
automatic qualifying spot at the NCAA meet. Fred Semoei of Alabama won the
national title with a time of 1:48.33. Michael Rutt of Connecticut was second
followed by Texas A&M's Michael Preble, Iowa's Erik Sowinski and Minnesota's
Harun Abda. Joe Abbott of Washington State was seventh and Zach Beth of
Wisconsin was eighth.
The relay team, which was seventh last season, ran a
3:07.74, narrowly finishing second in its heat, just behind Penn State, which
ran a 3:07.50. Baylor won the second heat with a 3:05.42, finishing nearly
three-quarters of a second ahead of Iowa. The final heat saw Texas A&M
challenge the collegiate record before finishing just shy of it in 3:04.24.
Arkansas was second in that heat. The final standings had Texas A&M first,
Baylor second, Arkansas third, Iowa fourth, Penn State fifth and the Patriots
sixth. Delaware State was seventh, followed by LSU, Florida State, Florida and
Washington State.
Adrian Vaughn
ran the first leg for the Patriots in 48.00
seconds. Nick Vaughn
was second with a time of 46.88. Ja-Vell Bullard
ran a
46.47 in the third leg and David Verburg
posted a 46.40 in the anchor leg.
As a team, Mason scored six points which tied the Patriots
for 33rd
. There were 65 teams that scored points on Saturday.
The 2011 outdoor season starts in just a few days as the
Patriots will compete at the Coastal Carolina Shamrock Invitational this
Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
