George Mason University Athletics

Small Contingency Set to Compete at Penn Relays, Lions' Invitational

George Mason Athletics Men's Track & Field 4/27/2016 1:20:00 PM

FAIRFAX, Va. – A small contingency hopes to extract valuable experience out of one final weekend before jumping into the championship season.

That's how George Mason men's and women's track and field coach Andrew Gerard views this weekend for his five student-athletes who will be competing. Throwers Emily Muniz and Rachel Forder will compete at the prestigious Penn Relays in Philadelphia on Thursday while hurdlers Deonna Diggs, Jordan May and Sommer Sharpe will participate in the Lions' Invitational at the College of New Jersey on Saturday.

Only a handful of Patriots are competing after the full squad was in action last weekend at the Duke Invitational and Virginia Challenge. Gerard and the Mason coaching staff came away pleased with their teams' efforts overall but want a few athletes to get a few more opportunities before heading into the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships next weekend.

For Muniz (hammer throw) and Forder (discus), the 122nd Penn Relays present a chance to compete on a big stage and gain more repetitions and throws. Diggs, unfortunately, slipped on the wet surface in the 100-meter hurdles at the Duke Invitational, resulting in false start. So Gerard wants to give her another opportunity to compete before the conference meet. May and Sharpe were also affected by the weather at the Duke Invitational. Inclement weather swooped in just as the 400-meter hurdles were set to begin and caused an hour-long lightning delay, which stymied May and Sharpe's performances.

“We have a few little things to work on, which is why we just have a few people going this weekend,” Gerard said. “By and large, it was a really good weekend. We feel really good about where we are going into the last weekend. It has been a strange spring, losing the home meet (the Mason Spring Invitational on April 9) for some of those groups. We just to get one more opportunity for them to get a solid race under their belts. We feel like the weather affected them more than some of the other people.”

The Patriots have begun preparing for the A-10 Championships, which will be held from May 7-8 at George Mason Stadium. Mason will have a target on its back after winning both the 2015 men's and women's conference titles. But before they turn their full attention to the conference meet, the Patriots will focus on finishing strong in the classroom. The last day of classes is May 4, with final exams beginning May 5.

“We're in an interesting position because final exams are coming up as well,” Gerard said. “It is a very important time – finishing off your classes well, our most important team championship. Everything is coming to a head right at the same time. We haven't really started to ratchet up the rhetoric and get everybody fired up quite yet. That will definitely happen fairly naturally. But we'll talk about what we need to get done here in the next week or so.”

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