George Mason women's track and field defended its indoor title this weekend taking the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships with 164 points thank to four first place finishes. The men finished second overall with 169 points, Rhode Island took first place.

  "Obviously we're thrilled to win today. We got points from a lot of different young ladies and really had pretty "clean" meet - which is a credit to the focus, preparation and execution of our women," said head coach Andrew Gerard.  "We got done what we were prepared to do, along with some nice surprises."

 Bethany Sachtleben added another 10 points with a first place finish in the women's 5000m run in a time of 16:30.12 and after setting an Atlantic 10 record in her preliminary run in the 100m hurdles Saturday, Shavon Briscoe won the individual conference title Sunday with a time of 13.74. Taylor Wheaton finished next in a time of 13.90. Wheaton also finished second in the 400m hurdles with a time of 59.30, Briscoe finished just off the podium in fourth with a time of 1:01.30.

The Patriots also had two medal finishes in the women's 400m dash with Dominique Graham finishing second in a time of 54.41 followed by Daianna Barron in third with a time of 55.07. Aneesha Scott finished second in the 100m dash in a time of 12.02. Amanda Denger added eight points with a second place finish in the women's heptathlon.  The women's 4x400m relay team of Wheaton, Barron, Graham and Caela Williams took first place with a time of 3:40.56 and the 4x100m relay team of Williams, Barron, Briscoe and Scott finished third in a time of 46.64. Jennifer Nakamura set a school and personal record with a 10:52.18 in a seventh place finish in the 3000m steeplechase.

 In the field events, Michelle Wallerstedt finished second in the women's discus with a mark of 48.78m.  For the men, Jimi Tele took first overall in the triple jump with a personal record mark of 15.24m.

 On the track, Anthony Williams took the conference title in the 110m hurdles in a time of 14.50. Adrian Vaughn finished atop the standings in the 400m dash in a time of 47.06, Zamier Johnson joined him on the podium with a third place finish in a time of 47.69 and Bernard Freeman finished sixth with a time of 48.90. Vaughn also took first in the 200m dash with a time of 21.18.

George Empty secured an individual title and 10 points in the 400m hurdles with a first place finish in a time of 52.23, Angel Coburn finished on the podium as well, setting a personal record with a time of 53.28. The men's 4x100m relay team of Ayo Raymond, Vaughn, Smalls and Freeman brought in another 10 points with a first place finish in a time of 40.83 as did the 4x400m relay team of Coburn, Vaughn, Empty and Johnson in a time of 3:15.15.

 Several Patriots finished on the podium as well for the men's team. DaQuan Smalls took second place in the men's 100m dash in a time of 10.95. In the 1500m run, Stuart Crowell finished second in a time of 3:53.61.

  "We were really pleased with the men.  We had figured we would score about 140-150 points and we exceeded that," Gerard said. "I like the fight in this team - we had a lot of people step up and out-perform where we thought they would - which is what you want in a championship-level team."

Gerard once again took home Women's Coach of the Year and Adrian Vaughn wen Male Performer of the Year.

  "We have a lot of folks qualified for the IC4A and NCAA meets coming up so this meet provided a great start to our championship season," Gerard said. "We're really looking forward to what the next 6+ weeks brings!"