A-10 Outdoor Championships Central
FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason men's and women's track and field teams will begin outdoor postseason play on home soil by hosting the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships on Saturday and Sunday. All events will take place at George Mason Stadium.
The Patriots have made a splash in the championship meet in recent years, as the defending A-10 outdoor champion women's squad emerged on top in three of the last four years. The men have enjoyed their fair share of success as well, winning the titles in 2015 and 2016.
"Obviously being at home is a good thing. We get to sleep in our own beds, we know the routine and where everything is, it makes it easy to focus in on what we want to do competition wise," head coach
Andrew Gerard said. "It's a nice advantage, however most teams travel a handful of weekends throughout the year. Plus the championships have been here before so I think most teams have a pretty good comfort level at our location. But having the home crowd behind us and having family and friends be able to be close to home and engage with the students is always a great advantage."
The women look to win their fourth title in the last five seasons and are riding the momentum of the Duke Invitational and UVA Challenge performances, led by freshman
Catherine Jackson finishing first in the 100-meter hurdles (14.78).
Gerard acknowledged that the "powerful" Rhode Island team will put the Patriots in a position to have their work cut out for them on the men's side. After his stellar showing in the Penn Relays, Redshirt junior
Trent Lancaster will look to build off that performance and play a major role in the quest to dethrone the Rams. His body of work included running a personal-best in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:08.60), a time that clocked in at third best in program history.
Returning individual award winners within the program include
Nathan Schulte (2017 800-meter run) and Gerard taking home last year's outdoor Women's Coach of the Year.
"When conference meet rolls around it's all about competing and beating the person next to you," Gerard said. "Day one is mostly about getting people through to the finals in the running events - the field events are finals in and of itself – so we want to take care of what we need to there. And then getting the right people through to the finals so we have the opportunity to compete for points in day two is going to be critical."
The first event begins Saturday at 10:30 a.m. with the men's hammer event. The first running event is the women's 100-meter hurdle trials that's kickstarted at 2:30 p.m., and the running section represents the final event of the day with the men's 10,000 meter run. The events conclude Sunday beginning with the 110-meter high hurdles of the decathlon at 9 a.m.
