Men's Track & Field | 1/5/2019 9:54:00 PM

Men's Results | Women's Results

FAIRFAX, Va. – A school-record throw and several performances worthy of making the all-time list set the tone for the George Mason men's and women's track and field teams in the first indoor meet of the season.

Sophomore Benjamin Viau broke the school record to win the weight throw with a toss of 17.6 meters at the Father Diamond Invitational on Saturday at the George Mason Field House. Several others – on both the men's and women's sides – cracked or moved up the program's all-time top 10 indoor performance lists to highlight a successful first day for the Patriots.

"It was a good opener, good excitement," Mason head coach Andrew Gerard said. "People got some good things done and took advantage of the opportunity. I think it was a positive weekend all in all."

Viau, a native of Lititz, Pa., chucked a toss of 17.6 meters (57 feet, 9 inches) – two meters further than his previous-best. Viau broke the previous school record of 16.35 meters set by Kirk Nguyen in 2012.

Viau's classmate, Jaylen Simmons, a sophomore from Waynesboro, Va., also moved the all-time list in the weight throw with a heave of 14.57 meters – seventh-best all-time – in finishing fifth on the day. Junior Sidney Yap also moved to ninth on the all-time list with a throw of 14.21 meters to place sixth on Saturday.

Simmons also took third in the shot put with the third-longest throw in school history – a mark of 16.49 meters. Viau finished sixth and improved to fifth all-time in the shot put with a mark of 15.34 meters. Fellow sophomore Connor Steggerda also set a personal-best with a throw of 13.36 meters – 10th best all-time.  

"The weight throwers have a real good group and they are working hard," Gerard said. "A lot of times you see freshmen go home and really commit themselves over the summer and come back as sophomores, especially on the men's side, and can make some big jumps like that. For Ben, it was a PR by two meters. So when you do something that substantial, I don't want to say it is a surprise. We saw the evidence there in the weight room and in practice. But to put it together the first weekend out for both Jaylen in the shot and Ben in the weight, it is nice to see all the work they put in the summer time really pushed them forward."

In the high jump, freshman Cason Gardner delivered the ninth-highest leap in program history in his collegiate opener, clearing 2.7 meters. He finished second, behind only Mason teammate John Seals (2.14 meters), who was competing unattached. Freshman Vlad Cullinane leapt 2.02 meters to take third, finishing just outside the top 10 all-time.

Senior Kornelius Klah, a native of Fairless Hills, Pa., won the 60-meter hurdles and moved up to seventh all-time at Mason with a time of 8.06. Junior Thomas Amabile, a transfer from the University of Virginia, won both the 3,000-meter run (8:50.31) and mile (4:26.44) in his Mason debut.

Junias Agyei was edged out by a thousandth of a second in the 60-meter dash, with an impressive time of 6.91 to finish second behind Bowie State's Bashir Lamptey. Agyei, a redshirt junior from Richmond, Va., actually ran a smidge faster in the preliminaries, posting a time of 6.90 to move into the top 10 all-time list.

On the women's side, junior Taylor Williams (7.73) and sophomore Kiana Stallworth (7.74) took fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 60-meter dash. Stallworth also finished second in the long jump with a leap of 5.78 meters.

Autumn White also started her sophomore season off strong by winning the pole vault with a leap of 3.65 meters. 

The 4x800-meter women's relay team of senior Sarah Moore, junior Maggie Morgan, freshman Kelly-Ann Downer and junior Ashley Lewis finished first with a ECAC qualifying time of 9:13.59.

The Patriots return to action next Saturday with the Great Dane Invitational held by the University of Albany in Staten Island, N.Y.

"Next weekend will look a lot different, a much bigger meet, a lot more competitors and teams," Gerard said. "The challenge there is to duplicate the excitement and duplicate the focus when there are a lot more people around, both competitively and just in general." just in general."