The George Mason men's track and field team successfully
defended its Colonial Athletic Association title on Saturday at VCU's
SportsBacker Stadium as the Patriots set a CAA record with 239 points and had
the second-largest margin of victory in the meet's 22-year history. The
Patriots topped UNC Wilmington which had 143.5 points, while Northeastern was
third, with 125.5 points. The George Mason women's team finished second for the
second-straight season, scoring 105 points to Georgia State's 133 points.
Northeastern was third with 100.5 points.
The men compiled an astonishing 108 points in just four
events, as the Patriots finished in the top six spots in the 400 meters, and
six of the top eight spots in the 200 meters. They also finished top three in
the pole vault on Friday and placed three of the top five in the long jump,
also on Friday.
"Both teams had a great weekend," said Andrew Gerard
,
Director of Track and Field/Cross Country. "For the men, we expected to be able
to defend the title we won last year and obviously we did that but the strength
of the performances we put forward exceeded our goal. This was a truly
total-team victory. It is different winning a title for the first time and
defending a title - everybody knows you're coming the second time around and
guns for you. I'm really proud of the job our whole squad did."
Rachaunn Ruffin
was named the Men's Outstanding Track
Performer while Lavell Handy
was named the Men's Outstanding Field Performer.
Ruffin became just the second athlete in CAA history to win the 100-meter title
three straight years and he did so by breaking his own CAA record in the event,
recording a time of 10.32. He also reclaimed the 200-meter title he won in
2009. For the third straight season, a Mason runner was the victor in the 100,
200 and 400 meters as David Verburg
defended his 400-meter crown. Handy won the
long jump on Friday and added the triple jump on Saturday. He also won that
event last year. He took home a third individual title when he won the
110-meter hurdles.
Two other men took home individual titles for the Patriots on
Saturday as David Wellington
won the decathlon and
Daniel Callan
won the 3000m
Steeplechase, finishing with the second-best time in school history (9:12.33).
The Patriots also won the 4X100-meter relay and didn't even run in the
4X400-meter relay because of the size of their lead and to avoid injury.
On the women's side, two Patriots took home individual
titles, joining Mandissa Marshall
who won the pole vault on Friday. Amanda
Denger won the heptatlon, finishing with 4,338 points, while
Nao Ma
won the 1500-meters,
with a time of 4:31.14, 10th
-best in school history. The women also
had a slew of second-place finishes. Crystal Clark was second in the 200 meters
(24.75), Daianna Barron
was second in the 400 meters (55.42), Taylor Wheaton
was second in the 400-meter hurdles (58.99 - third-fastest in school history),
Grace Mavugara
was second in the triple jump (12.21m) and Dominique Graham
tied
for second in the high jump (1.66m). The 4X400-meter relay team of Shantel
Miles, Barron, Clark and Graham were second (3:44.23) while the 4X100-meter
relay team of Clark, TaNay Chandler
, Katea Jemmott
and Barron were third
(46.49).
"I'm even more impressed with our women getting second,"
Gerard said. "When we doped out the scores before the meet, I had us picking up
somewhere around 80-85 points and being somewhere between 3rd and 5th place.
But our women consistently overachieve at the championship level. It is a
credit to the culture and tradition of our women's team that they are able to
do this at every championship meet. My hat is off to them - they battled for
every point and just did a tremendous job!"
Callan is the only CAA title-winner who won't be eligible to
defend their title as he is a redshirt senior. Every other Mason
student-athlete to win a CAA championship this weekend has eligibility
remaining for next season.
The Patriots will return to action this coming weekend as
they compete in the IC4A and ECAC Championships. The men were fourth last year
at the meet while the women were 10th
.
MASON INDIVIDUAL
CHAMPIONS
MEN
100m
- Rachaunn Ruffin
- 10.32 *
200m
- Rachaunn Ruffin
- 21.48
400m
- David Verburg
- 46.61
110m Hurdles
-
Lavell Handy
- 14.37
3000m Steeplechase
-
Daniel Callan
- 9:12.33
Triple Jump
-
Lavell Handy
- 15.49 meters
Long Jump
-
Lavell Handy
- 7.58 meters
Pole Vault
- Wesley Sun
- 4.66 meters
Decathlon
- David Wellington - 6,479
points
4X100
- (Adrain
Vaughn, Rachaunn Ruffin
, Travaughn Baker-Johnson
, Nick Vaughn
) - 40.53
WOMEN
1500m
-
Nao Ma
-
4:31.14
Pole Vault
-
Mandissa Marshall
- 3.98 meters
Heptathlon
-
Amanda Denger
- 4,338 points
* - CAA Record
