Fairfax- The Patriots traveled north to Pennsylvania and went head to head with some of the biggest schools in the nation. There have been many new personal records broken and new additions to the GMU Track and Field All-Time list.
Field Events:
Arun Mantena was the first athlete from George Mason to place on the podium for the Nittany Lion Challenge after finishing second in the long jump (6.97). For the triple jump, Geni Roberts had the lead from the very beginning when his first attempt was 14.62, but he then reassured his first place finish with his second attempt where he achieved a mark of 14.76.
The freshman, Walt Bannerman, set a personal best once again in pole vault (4.90) and achieved second place only behind Jack Vecellio from Youngstown. Walt's personal best also landed him a spot in the GMU All-Time list for pole vault, taking the eighth spot. Amber Askelson pushed herself to the limit to compete with Atkinson from Penn State and Riches from Temple. Her effort was rewarded by setting a new personal best (3.78) and finishing in third. Abby Weening has also placed her name onto the All-Time list for the high jump achieving a personal best of 1.71m.
Track Events:
In the running events there were 4 more student-athletes who have etched their names onto George Mason history. After a dominant performance last week at Virginia Beach, Michka-Mae Hyde ran the 600m with a time of 1:33.92 and has entered at the third spot for the All-Time list in the 600m dash. In the men's 600m dash, Makai Lewis placed 9th with a time of 1:21.96 and not only was it a personal best for Makai, it also placed him 7th on the men's 600m GMU All-Time list.
Kate O' Neill made her return to a meet after a long cross country season where she was named into the First-Team All Conference. Kate O' Neill made a historic return by competing in the women's 3000m race and finishing in 4th with a time of 9:45.84 which has also put her name in eighth for the All-Time list in the 3000m. The senior, Adia Palmer, competed in the women's 600m race finishing in 21st with a time of 1:40.59 and it was enough to officially have her name on the historic list in the number ten spot.
Next Meet:
The Patriots will be at two different meets next weekend. The Hokie Invitational hosted by Virginia Tech, will be a two day event on Friday, January 19th and Saturday, January 20th. Another part of the squad will be traveling to Lexington for the VMI Team Challenge. The VMI meet will only be a one day event on Saturday, January 20th.
