Nov. 21, 2008

FRIDAY'S RESULTS: Prelims | Diving | Finals
2008 Patriot Invitational Central

FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason swimming and diving team set school, meet, and pool records to highlight its first day of competition at the eight-team Patriot Invitational on Friday at the Jim McKay Natatorium.

Mason tallied three total victories on the day, two of which coming on record-breaking performances. After day one, the women lead the field with a score of 258, while the men are fifth with 106 points. UMBC leads the men's standings with 314 points.

Freshman Ashley Danner continued her assault on the record books as her time of 23.09 was good for first place and a meet record in the 50-yard freestyle. Danner, who already has set school records in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley, swam the fastest 50-yard freestyle in the history of the Patriot Invitational when she touched the wall 0.95 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Dory Isaacs of American. Danner swam the fastest times in the preliminaries as well, clocking in at 23.61 seconds.

She was part of another record-breaking event, as freshman Nicole Harmon, Danner, junior Caitlin Impink and senior Mary Beth Cheslock finished the 400-yard medley relay in record fashion. The quartet's combined time of 3:46.35, over nine seconds better than second-place UMBC, was good for a school, pool, meet and Colonial Athletic Association record.

Another freshman etched his name into the Mason records, as Derrick Butts scored a school-record 366.85 points in the 3-meter dive preliminaries to highlight an outstanding day off the diving board for the Patriots. Butts, along with freshman Bryan Bahr and junior Ryan Metzker took the top three spots in the preliminaries.

On the women's side, sophomore Lisa Faulkner took home first place with a winning score of 274.50 in the 1-meter dive, and freshman Kristen Meier and junior Charlotte Edwards finished second and third, respectively, in the finals.

The Patriot Invitational continues Saturday with preliminaries scheduled for 10 a.m. and the finals set to begin at 6 p.m. The diving portion of the competition begins at 1 p.m.