Results
FAIRFAX, Va. – With snow falling outside, the George Mason men's and women's track and field teams got off to a hot start inside to open up the indoor season.
The Patriots kicked off 2017 with the Father Diamond Invitational at the George Mason Field House on Saturday. Due to the inclement weather, several schools were unable to attend, resulting in just six women's teams and two men's squads. But Mason stayed focus as several student-athletes set personal records and the Patriots collected a total of 19 first-place finishes.
"It was a good start," Mason head coach
Andrew Gerard said. "We got some positive things done. Certainly got the rust off in a lot of cases. I saw people run, for the most part, multiple times. It was certainly a worthwhile start. A little bit smaller due to the weather. But I think the teams that were here really capitalized on it. It was nice to see everybody get back and get going.
"A lot of people were at PRs, near PRs in multiple events. Overall, it was a very satisfactory start and we used it for what it was good for."
On the women's side,
Sarah Moore (500 meters),
Kyla Carte (1,000 meters),
Shelby Garnand (pole vault), Nhautrey brown (triple jump) and the 4x400-meter relay team all finished first.
Winners on the men's side included Ayo Raymond (60 meters), Bernard Freeman (400 meters), Rico Gomez (500 meters), Nathan Schulte (1,000 meters), Logan Miller (mile and 3,000 meters), Kornelius Klah (60-meter hurdles), John Seals (pole vault), Junias Agyei (long jump), Jimi Tele (triple jump), Jared Lewis (shot put and weight throw) and the 4x400- and 4x800-meter relay teams.
Among the notables, Gerard was pleased with the performance of individuals in the men's 60-meter dash, which featured Raymond, Bernard Andoh, Gomez and Freeman all finishing under seven seconds. He was also encouraged to see
Taylor Williams return to the track after an illness kept her out last year. The redshirt freshman finished fifth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.89.
Lewis set a personal record in the shot put with a toss of 47 feet and 10 ½ inches. Seals also posted a personal record in the pole vault with a leap of 4.5 meters (14 feet, nine inches). Klah ran a personal-best 8.17 seconds to win the 60-meter hurdles.
Amber Hawkins neared a personal record in both the mile and the 3,000-meter run, while Miller swept both events on the men's side. Gerard also was encouraged by the performances of both the men's and women's 4x400-meter relay teams.
"They executed well," Gerard said of the Mason men's and women's teams. "We asked them to do some specific things that mostly involved being pretty controlled on the front end and then closing well. By and large, they were able to do that. Instead of just going out and trying to run as fast as we possibly can, the focus was a little more on the execution. It was good."
Both Patriot squads will hit the road next weekend for the Great Dane Invitational hosted by the University of Albany on Jan. 14 at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, N.Y.
