LEXINGTON, Ky. – The George Mason University men's track & field 4x100 meter relay team made history under the lights of the NCAA Preliminary Saturday night, setting a new school record on one of the sport's biggest stages.
The lightning fast time of 39.52 seconds run by the Patriot quartet beat the previous record mark of 39.65 set in 2003 by the Mason team of Sesay, Bengono, Harris and Phillips. It's just the sixth time since 1992 a George Mason relay team has posted a sub-40 second time.
The finish put the Patriots 13
th out of 24 teams, just one spot out of a berth at the NCAA Championships in Eugene. Senior
Ayo Raymond opened the race and handed off to fellow senior
Bernard Freeman, who ran the second leg. From there, senior
David Stone picked up the third leg and passed off to sophomore
Rico Gomez, who ran the anchor leg.
"We honestly could not have run any better," head coach
Andrew Gerard said. "The time beat our previous best by .54 seconds, which is a huge margin. It's tough for our guys to come so close to qualifying for the national meet, but they ran a fantastic race."
The Patriots' 4x400m relay team also impressed in Lexington, placing 14th in a season-best time of 3:07.13. The finish marks the 10th-best 4x400 relay time in school history and also exceeded the previous top 2017 time by nearly two seconds.
Leading off the day in the triple jump, junior
Raeshawn Bishop made his NCAA Preliminary debut and placed 38
th. The three-time Atlantic 10 champion in the event posted a top mark of 14.77m (48-5.5) over his three attempts in the first flight.
Elsewhere, senior
Steven Flynn jumped out to an excellent start in the 5000m run, covering the first 200 meters in 32.18 seconds to get into the front of the pack. His 600-meter split of 1:41.88 kept him among the top-3 runners in the event, but around the halfway mark of the race, he suffered a severe cramp that knocked the 2016 national qualifier out of the race.
Next up for the Patriots, Mason's
Michelle Wallerstedt advanced through the NCAA Preliminary Friday with a superb mark in the discus throw. She will head to Eugene for the national meet June 7-10.
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