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FAIRFAX, Va. – There won't be an Atlantic 10 Conference school with more representation at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field East Preliminary Championships this week than George Mason.

The Patriots take an A-10 best seven student-athletes – men's and women's – to the East Preliminary, which runs Thursday through Saturday at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla. Every individual event features 48 qualifiers, with the top 12 finishers in each advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships next month in Eugene, Ore.

From the A-10 outdoor champion men's team, Angel Coburn (400-meter hurdles), Ayo Raymond (100-meter dash), Bernard Freeman (200-meter dash), Steven Flynn (5,000-meter run) and John Seals (high jump) all return to the East Preliminary. On the women's side, Sommer Sharpe (400-meter hurdles) and Talisha Watts (high jump) will be making their first trips to the East Preliminary.

“Everybody we have going had a very successful tail end to the season and has been competing well,” head coach Andrew Gerard said. “We are pretty optimistic. We had the largest number of people of any of the A-10 institutions. I think that is nice to compare ourselves amongst our conference peers. With seven individuals I think we have good representation across a variety of events. I think people are coming off a good string of competitions the last couple of weeks. Hopefully we will cap it off with a good one here and have a couple people have a chance to move on.”

The three-day meet begins on Thursday, with Coburn and Sharpe competing in the first round of the 400-meter hurdles. Raymond will also get going, with the first round of the 100-meter dash. In each of those events, there will be six heats. The top three from each heat plus the next six fastest times will advance to the quarterfinals on Friday. From there, the top three finishers in each of the three quarterfinal heats, in addition to the next three best times, will advance to the NCAA Championships.

The setup is similar for Freeman, who will compete in the 200-meter dash on Friday. If he is one of the 24 to make it out of the opening round, he'll advance to the quarterfinals on Saturday. The same rules apply – with the top three finishers in each of the three quarterfinal heats, in addition to the next three best times, advancing to the NCAA Championships.

In the high jump, Watts competes Friday, with Seals to follow on Saturday. For both, its simple – the top 12 overall placers advance to nationals. Flynn has the longest wait of any Patriot, competing in the second-to-last running event of the week. On Saturday night, the 5,000-meter run will split up into two heats of 24. The top five in each heat, plus the next two best times, advance to Eugene.

“In this, you don't necessarily have to have your best weekend but it is all about head-to-head competition,” Gerard said. “You could come in with the 48th best mark and if you have a great day that day… there are always a couple Cinderella stories like that. So it's straight up. It could be a hurricane down there and the first five (in the case of the 5,000 meters) across the line are going to go regardless of it is their best time or regardless if it is walking. It is all about head to head.

“By and large, everybody is healthy and everybody is on top of their game. We're ready to go. Hopefully we'll have good results to show for it.”

NCAA East Preliminary Championships
May 26-28
Jacksonville, Fla.

Schedule for George Mason qualifiers
(Region rank and seed time included)
THURSDAY
4:30 p.m.
Women's 400-Meter Hurdles – First Round
48. Sommer Sharpe (1:00.07)

5 p.m.
Men's 400-Meter Hurdles – First Round
40. Angel Coburn (52.15)

6:55 p.m.
Men's 100-Meter Dash – First Round
48. Ayo Raymond (10.48)

FRIDAY
5 p.m.
Women's High Jump
29. Talisha Watts (1.77 meters)

6:45 p.m.
Men's 100-Meter Dash – Quarterfinals*
Ayo Raymond

7:30 p.m.
Women's 400-Meter Hurdles – Quarterfinals*
Sommer Sharpe

7:45 p.m.
Men's 400-Meter Hurdles – Quarterfinals*
Angel Coburn

8:25 p.m.
Men's 200-Meter Dash – First Round
47. Bernard Freeman (21.03)

SATURDAY
5:30 p.m.
Men's High Jump
41. John Seals (2.11 meters)

7:50 p.m.
200-Meter Dash – Quarterfinals*
Bernard Freeman

8:45 p.m.
5,000 Meters
13. Steven Flynn (13:55.26)

*Only top 24 from first round advance to quarterfinals