PRINCETON, N.J. - The George Mason men's track and field
team took home the IC4A Outdoor Championships title while also earning two
individual event crowns as action concluded at the IC4A/ECAC Championships on
the campus of Princeton University on Sunday.
The men beat out 100 teams competing at the meet, claiming their first IC4A title since 2006 after collecting 59 points over the three-day meet. Rounding out the top five team
finishers were Cornell (52), Hampton (47), Maryland-Eastern Shore (44) and Duke
(39). The women's team finished the meet
in fifth place.
Senior Lavell Handy successfully defended his IC4A triple
jump title on Sunday, winning the event with a distance of 15.52m. It was his
second championship title of the weekend after he won the long jump on
Saturday.
Also taking home an individual title for the Patriots was junior
David Verburg, who won his second-consecutive IC4A 400m championship crown in a
time of 45.87.
Mason also had two individuals and two relays compete in the
finals of the meet. Senior Dwight Webley finished 13th in triple
jump with a distance of 14.54m, while junior George Empty placed eighth in the
400m hurdles after crossing the line in 52.55.
The 4x400m relay of Nick Vaughn, Empty, Adrian Vaughn and
John Jones came home in second place with a time of 3:09.85, while the 4x800
squad of Andrew McGreal, Alex Levine, Cody Raphael and David Rushing placed
fourth with a season-best time of
7:31.12.
For the women, senior Cierra McGee fell just short of
claiming the 400m title, finishing second in a time of 53.00, which was a
season and personal best in addition to being the third-best time in program
history.
In another close finish, the 4x400m relay of Daianna Barron,
McGee, Kristin Bethel and Dominique Graham finished just .01 seconds behind the
top-finishing squad from Cornell, finishing in a season-best time of 3:38.52.
The other women's relay competing on Sunday was the 4x100m
team of TaNay Chandler, McGee, Katea Jemmott and Aneesha Scott, who crossed the
line in 45.80, good for fourth place.
Individually, Grace Mavugara finished 14th in the
triple jump with a leap of 12.01m.
Mason will now take a week off before returning to
competition at the NCAA East Region Championships May 24-26 in Jacksonville,
Fla.
