Men's Track & Field | 1/26/2019 10:27:00 PM

Men's Results | Women's Results

FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason men's and women's track and field teams wrapped up the Patriot Games Invitational with positive results.

Despite not having every athlete available, the men and women were able to secure a combined seven victories, with more than 20 athletes finishing in the top five of various events Friday and Saturday at the Field House.
 
Head coach Andrew Gerard had high praises of his team following the meet.

"We had a handful of things we wanted to get done, and we accomplished those by and large," he said. "We did have some people that we did not line up this weekend for whatever reason. So, there were some traditional strengths where we didn't have everyone lining up. So consequently, there were some holes there."
 
Of the seven victories, four came from the men and three from the women.

In the men's 500 meter dash, sophomore Jeremiah Hankerson took first with a time of 1:06:54. Sophomore Harrison Shotwell won first in the pole vault with a leap of 4.50 meters. Freshman Decker Barborek finished first in the 1,000-meter run with a time of  2:43.73.  

One of the biggest factors of the games was freshman Cason Gardner. He won the heptathlon with 5,096 points, securing a victory in the 60-meter hurdles and finishing second in the 1,000-meter run, high jump, long jump and pole vault.

"He finished it off today," Gerard said. "He positioned himself nicely yesterday and really finished it off today. In the pole vault, he had good form. The 1,000 -meter run was good form. The hurdles were a good start for him. He had over 5,000 points this weekend. Pending this week's results, if you look at last week results, that is number one in the Atlantic 10 (this year)."

On the women's side, freshman Annabelle Eastman, who arrived on campus from her home country of Australia less than two weeks, came in first in the women's 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:58.86. Sophomore Davina Lane won the women's 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.93. Freshman Hannah Robertson captured first in the women's pole vault with a jump of 3.80 meters. 

"We had a lot of young folks I think that broke through and did a good job," Gerard said. "Annabelle's a freshman in the 3,000 and Cason's a freshman. So, you know we have that theme of young people leading the charge for us. This was a good venue for that."

Gerard also spoke how he felt his team is heading into the Atlantic 10 Conference Indoor Championships which are just four weeks away on Feb. 23-24 in the Field House.

"This is kind of the tipping point. We're on the downhill slide," he said. "There are some things we need to continue to refine but next time we're in the building (GMU Field House) it's A-10 time. I'd be more concerned if we were 100 percent ready right now. Because we still have three to four weeks left. I think we are on the right track now. We still have a few things left to do."

Mason is back in action next weekend with two meets in Boston. The Patriots will compete at the Crimson Elite Invitational at Harvard on Friday and the Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invitational at Boston University on Saturday.