A handful of sprinters represented the George Mason men's track and field team at one of the nation's premier track and field facilities.

Five Patriots competed at the SPIRE NCAA Division I Track & Field Invitational on Saturday at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Highlighting the weekend was the 4x400-meter relay team's second-place performance. The team of Xavier King Jr., Evander Pierre, Bernard Freeman and Rico Gomez finished in a time of 3:07.99, behind only Penn State (3:07.81). The Patriots finished ahead of teams from Rutgers, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Ohio State. The time of 3:07.99 is the best in the Atlantic 10 Conference this season and the Patriots have the 20th fastest 4x400 team in the country.

Gomez, a sophomore, also competed in the 300-meter dash and took second with a personal-best time of 33.69. He finished just eight-hundredths of a second behind Pittsburgh's Desmond Palmer (33.61). Mason freshman Tyler Benson (34.40) and sophomore Evander Pierre (34.62) took sixth and seventh, respectively. They were third and fourth among collegiate runners.

Freeman, a senior, also double-dipped on Saturday and finished 12th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.66.

All five sprinters will be back in action this weekend as the Patriots host the Atlantic 10 Indoor Track & Field Championships for men and women on Saturday and Sunday at the George Mason Field House.