The George Mason men's 4X400-meter relay team will not be competing in the finals on Saturday and the reason isn't simply because they posted the 17^th-best time in the prelims on Friday. The referees disqualified Alabama after ruling that the Crimson Tide impeded the Patriots as they exchanged the baton between the third and fourth leg but it was little consolation to the Patriots who had the expectation of running in the finals. Only the top eight relay teams advanced.

The Patriots had been in third place in their heat when George Empty entered the exchange zone to hand off the baton to David Verburg. But the impediment caused them to fumble the baton and as a result, Mason posted a 3:09.31, more than four seconds slower than their best time this year.

The Patriots still have a shot at earning All-America status but will have to wait until those awards are announced early next week.

Mandissa Marshall got her chance to compete on Friday night and she was unable to match the 4.00-meter mark she cleared in the East Preliminary Round two weeks ago. That jump gave her a five-way tie for first to advance to the NCAA Championships but the best she could clear in Des Moines, Iowa was 3.90 meters. She finished 19th in the event.

On Saturday morning, Lavell Handy will compete in the triple jump.