April 18, 2008

CAA Championship Day One Results

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Junior Murielle Ahoure shattered the meet record with a NCAA regional qualifying time of 11.56 in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash to highlight the George Mason men's and women's track and field teams' first day of competition at the 2008 Colonial Athletic Association Championships.

After six events, the Patriot women sit seventh in the standings with 16 points, trailing host William & Mary which has 72 points in first place. The Mason men are sixth with 12 points, trailing the Tribe as well which leads with 94 points.

On the track, just four events held championship finals but the Patriots managed to meet a number of IC4A and ECAC qualifiers as well. On the men's side, Sam Horn met the IC4A qualifier with a time of 3:51.79 in the 1,500-meter run, while Michael Pachella's 1:51.98 time in the 800-meter preliminaries was the fastest on the day and earned him a spot in the IC4A championships, as did Nate Harris in the 400-meter hurdles (53.60). In field events, Dwight Webley won the long jump championship with an IC4A-qualifying distance of 7.26m.

On the women's side, Ahoure was one of multiple qualifiers on the day. She also met an ECAC qualifier in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 24.23. In the same event, Tiara Swindell also met the qualifying standard, but had done so previously this season.

Ryann Hendricks led the Patriots to a sweep of the long jump championships, as her 5.96-meter jump was good for first place and an ECAC qualifier. Chia Hudson met the standard as well with a third-place jump of 5.88m. In the 100-meter hurdles, Asia Odum qualified for the finals as well, finishing eighth with a 14.78 time. Julie Tripson narrowly missed qualifiying for the hammer throw finals, as she finished 9th with a 40.66m distance.

Both Hendricks and Webley, by virtue of their gold-medal finishes, qualified for the NCAA East Regional Championships in the long jump.

The CAA Championship concludes on Saturday at Zable Stadium and the Stimson Throwing Area, with the day's events set to begin at 9 a.m.