Women's Track and Field Takes A-10 Indoor Title

George Mason Athletics Men's Track & Field 2/23/2014 6:48:00 PM

George Mason women's track and field finished atop the standings in its first Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships appearance this weekend with 125 points thank to three first place finishes and four second place finishes. The men finished second overall with 140.5 points, Rhode Island took first place.

Mason won four and medaled in eight others. The Patriots relay team of Caela Williams, Taylor Wheaton, Daianna Barron and Dominique Graham won the 4x400M race. Graham also won the high jump, with a new personal best of 1.76m moving her up to third on the Patriots' all-time list. Mandissa Marshall captured the pole vault. Chantel Richardson won the long jump. Mason's Amanda Denger finished third in the overall pentathlon scoring. Richardson, a freshman, was selected as the A-10's Rookie of the Year.

Mason coach Andrew Gerard was voted Coach of the Year after leading the Patriots to the title.

"This was a total team effort from start to finish and, as a program; we were very pleased to come away with the win,” head coach Andrew Gerard said. “With four events to go, three teams were within one point and our women did a really great job closing out the meet.”

Bethany Sachtelben took second place in the women's 3,000m with a time of 9:37.03, a new personal best also good for fifth all-time at Mason. Senior Barron earned a second place finish in the women's 500m with a time of 1:13.87. Aneesha Scott set a personal best and worked her way to the sixth spot on Mason's all-time list with a time of 7.55 seconds in the women's 60m dash, good for second place. Graham took second in the women's 400m with a time of 55.69 while Willams came in third with a time of 56.12. Wheaton completed the 60m hurdles in a time of 8.61 to earn third, setting a new personal best and moving up to the fourth spot on Mason's all-time list.

“It was thrilling to be a part of and wonderful to see the women raise to the occasion across all event areas,” Gerard said “I cannot say enough good things about how these ladies competed this weekend."

The men also impressed in their first A-10 championship earning second overall tying URI with the most medal performances of any team, garnering 14 total top three finishes, five of which were event wins.

“Hats off to URI, they had a tremendous meet but we were very happy with how we performed,” Gerard said. “This only served to whet our appetites for outdoors and we look forward to more battles like this!"

Mason dominated in the 60m races with Anthony Williams taking the hurdles title with a time of 8.09, and Ayo Raymond taking the top spot in the dash with a time of 6.95. Walter Mitchell finished third in the 60m dash with a time of 7.00m. Raymond earned the men's Rookie of the Year.

The Patriots also had two finish in the top three of the men's 200m with Adrian Vaughn taking the top spot with a time of 21.77 and a third place finish for DaQuan Smalls with a time of 22.07. The men also had a strong showing in both the 4x400m and the 4x800m relays with a first place finish in the 4x400 and a third place finish in the 4x800. Vaughn also took second place in the men's 400m with a time of 49.26.

Craig Morgan finished first in the men's 1,000m with a time of 2:29.96 to join Michael Conway as Patriots in the top three. Conway finished third in the men's 5000m with a time of 14:48.63 on Saturday.

Full list of Sunday's top-10 finishes:

Men's 60m Hurdles

1^st Anthony Williams- 8.09

5^th Teddy Murphy- 8.74

Women's 60m

3^rd- Taylor Wheaton- 8.61

Men's Mile

7^th- William McRenyolds- 4:18.63

Women's mile

4^th Bethany Sachtleben- 5:01.08

Men's 60m Dash

1^st- Ayodeji Raymond- 6.95