Results

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Early in the season, the George Mason men's and women's track and field teams have placed an emphasis on individual growth.

Head coach Andrew Gerard and the Patriots coaching staff are looking for personal improvement – faster times, longer throws and jumps, personal records – rather than putting much stock into team scores at this point.

Even so, the Patriots were happy with the results Saturday.

The Mason men finished second as a team at the Great Dane Invitational at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Saturday in just the second meet of the season. With more than 15 collegiate teams competing, the Patriots placed second with 112 points behind only Connecticut. The Mason women also compiled a strong effort, finishing fifth out of 20 teams.

"There were a lot of teams there and, by and large, people competed very well," Mason head coach Andrew Gerard said. "We didn't spread people out, we didn't try to maximize the team score necessarily. But for us to achieve the way we did even while making the decisions we knew we needed to make for individuals…to still come out with a good result against a very, very good field of teams bodes well. People still competed well despite where we doubled up or tripled up (in events). I thought we had a really good day."

On the men's side, senior Ayo Raymond finished first among collegiate runners – and third overall – with a time of 6.85 in the 60-meter dash. Senior Jimi Tele collected a pair of top-three finishes. He took second in the triple jump with a personal-best leap of 50 feet, 3 ½ inches. He also set a personal record in the long jump with a mark of 22 feet, 11 inches, which was good for second among collegiate jumpers and third overall.

Senior Bernard Freeman was fifth in the 200-meter dash (second among collegiate runners) with a time of 21.77. Sophomores Rico Gomez (48.39) and Evander Pierre (48.51) placed second and third in the collegiate field of the 400-meter dash. Sophomore Kornelius Klah placed fifth (fourth collegiately) in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.22.

Sophomore Blaine Lacey took second in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:54.21, just a tenth of a second behind Connecticut's Ben De Venizia. Junior Nathan Schulte was fourth in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:29.66 as the Patriots took just a small portion of their distance squads.

The 4x400-meter relay team of Freeman, Pierre, freshman Tyler Benson and senior Jordan May topped the collegiate squads with a time of 3:14.61 and was just a second behind J.L.R. Track Club, which features world and Olympic medalists.

Junior Jared Lewis took huge strides in the throws, placing fifth in the shot put and eighth in the weight throw. His heave of 50 feet, ¾ inches in the shot put was an indoor personal best by more than three feet.

"Jared Lewis was probably one of the nice breakthroughs for us," Gerard said. "He has been looking good in practice and he put it together and he made the finals in the weight. Then he got a big breakthrough in the shot. Obviously, he has worked really hard. His numbers in the weight room have really improved this year. He spent a lot of time working over the summer and some of the technique stuff is coming together well. It was nice to see him put together a couple of big performances."

On the women's side, reigning Atlantic 10 Women's Co-Performer of the Week Sarah Moore led the way. The sophomore finished second in the 400-meter dash with an indoor personal-best time of 55.18. Junior Sharon Dorsey also set a personal record in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:13.14 for fourth overall and second among collegiate runners. Freshman Kyla Carte, the A-10 Freshman of the Week this past week, continued her strong start with a third-place finish in the 800-meter dash with a personal-best time of 2:15.80.

Junior Shelby Garnand was second in the pole vault, clearing the bar at a personal-best mark of 3.85 meters. Junior Nhautrey Brown jumped 38 feet, 9 ¾ inches in the triple jump to take fourth and third among collegiate participants.

The Patriots will be back on the road next weekend, staying in state and heading to the Liberty Kickoff Invitational on Friday and Saturday in Lynchburg, Va.