May 2, 2008

2008 Patriot Open Invitational Schedule

The George Mason track and field team will host the 2008 Patriot Open Invitational this weekend at George Mason Stadium. The event, which is the final meet for the Patriots before the ECAC and IC4A Championships, is free and open to the public. Saturday's action begins with the field events, kicking off with the women's hammer throw at 12 p.m. The running competitions begin at 1:30 p.m. with the women's 4x100-meter relay.

Mason's men's squad will look to add to its list of IC4A qualifiers, which currently numbers seven student-athletes and three relay teams. Freshman Dwight Webley qualified in both the long jump (7.26m) and triple jump (15.11m) events at the CAA Championships two weeks ago, and joining him as a field qualifier is senior Ryan McCoy, who met the standard with a 15.41-meter distance in the triple jump at the Florida Relays on April 5.

Three Patriots have qualified in the hurdles, as senior Brian Hay ran to a 14.30 time in the 110-meter hurdles at the Raleigh Relays on March 29, while juniors Mutsa Nyakabau (53.37) and Nate Harris (53.51) both qualified in the 400-meter hurdles. Sophomores Michael Pachella (1:51.11) and Sam Horn (3:51.79) each met qualifying standards in the 800-meter and 1,500-meter runs, respectively. Hay, McCoy and Webley have all qualified for the NCAA East Regional Championships as well.

On the women's side, five Patriots have met ECAC qualifying standards, including junior triple-qualifier Murielle Ahoure. She has qualified for the 100-meter (11.56), 200-meter (23.58) and 400-meter (54.77) events, with the first two times coming at the CAA Championships in which she was named Women's Track Performer of the Meet. Sophomore Tiara Swindell qualified for the 200-meter (24.22) and 400-meter (55.38) at the Colonial Relays on April 5, and classmate Asia Odum is the other track performer to have surpassed the ECAC standard. Her time of 14.20 in the 100-meter hurdles at the Hurricane Invitational on March 22 met the required mark.

In field events, junior Ryann Hendricks and freshman Chia Hudson have both qualified as well. Hendricks, who earned Women's Field Performer of the CAA Championships honors, met the standards with marks of 5.96 meters in the long jump and 12.48 meters in the triple jump. Hudson also qualified in the triple jump at the conference meet with a distance of 5.88 meters.

The men's relay squads in the 4x100-meter, 4x400-meter and 4x800-meter all have met the IC4A qualifier, while the women earned a berth in the ECAC Championships in the 4x100 and 4x400 events.

Both the IC4A and ECAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held from May 16-18 at William Weaver Track and Field Stadium in Princeton, N.J. Two weeks later, Florida State University will host the NCAA East Regional Championships, set to be contested on May 30 and 31.