GENEVA, Ohio - The George Mason track and field sprinters
and jumpers had an impressive showing at the SPIRE Invitational over the
weekend, finishing the two-day event with 14 combined IC4A/ECAC qualifying
marks.
Posting qualifying marks for the indoor IC4A Championships
on the men's side were Adrian Vaughn, Nick Vaughn, Lavell Handy, David Verburg,
George Empty, Ja-Vell Bullard, Rachaunn Ruffin and Travaughn Baker-Johnson. For
the women, qualifying for the ECAC Indoor Championships were Cierra McGee,
Daianna Barron, Crystalyne Clark and the 4x400 relay.
The men's team had a quartet of qualifiers in the 200m dash,
as Adrian Vaughn won the event with a time of 21.58. He was followed by Nick
Vaughn in second place (21.76), while Ruffin (21.74) finished in 12th
and Baker-Johnson took the 21st spot (22.13). Another large Mason
contingency also qualified in the 400m dash, with Verburg winning the event in
a time of 46.39, Empty finishing third with a time of 47.22 and Ja-Vell Bullard
taking ninth with a time of 48.00.
Handy posted two qualifying marks on the day, besting his
old qualifying time in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.00 in the prelims
before finishing in eighth place with a time of 8.09 in the finals. He also
posted a height of 7.10m in the long jump.
The final men's qualifier was the 4x400 relay squad of Nick
Vaughn, Bullard, Empty and Verburg, who won the event with a season-best time
of 3:08.40.
On the women's side, Cierra McGee and Daianna Barron both
posted ECAC qualifying marks in the 400m dash. McGee finished third in the
event with a time of 54.82, while Barron took 12th with a time of
55.89. The other individual qualifier was Crystalyne Clark, who posted a time
of 25.01 in the 200m dash.
The 4x400 relay of McGee, Taylor Wheaton, Dominique Graham
and Barron topped the season-best time in the relay event, taking third place
with a time of 3:41.40.
The Patriots return to action next weekend as they take part
in the Virginia Tech Invitational.
