George Mason Claims IC4A's at Gordon

Who is George Mason?

I'll give you three guesses.

He wasn't the fourth President of the United States.

He did not run a building and loan in It's a Wonderful Life.

Forget the third. I doubt you would ever guess it was the name of the university that ran, sprinted, jumped, hurdled, pole vaulted and stomped all over the competition at the 69th annual men's IC4A Indoor Championships this weekend at Gordon Indoor Track. In the process, the defending champion GMU Patriots set an IC4A indoor meet record with 101 points.

As for Harvard, well, it was left in the dust. Only six members of the men's squad qualified for the competition, which involved the best competitors from 93 schools in the East.

Although 38 teams tallied points, Harvard was shutout in a meet it hasn't won since 1927.

Harvard's Eric Rahe, who on Saturday faced All-American John Cook of George Mason and three other runners who went on to automatically qualify for the NCAA's in the 800-meter, said, "It's frustrating to compete against such great schools."

Rahe, who ran against GMU All-America John Cook and three other NCAA qualifiers in the 800-meter race said, "Gerge Mason is a new track powerhouse, but we've also got to compete with schools that have traditionally had strong programs, like Georgetown and Villanova."

Continued

The Hoyas were edged by Penn State in the last event of the day, the pole vault, and ended up in third place, while 'Nova, which has won the most IC4A indoor meets with 20, finished sixth.

Four meet records were set this weekend in the 200, 400, 5000 and the mile relay. James Jett of West Virginia set the record in the 200-meter run, Howard Burnett of N.Y. Tech is in the books for 400 meters, Steve Brown of Penn State beat the old record by six seconds in the 5000-meter race and East Carolina set the new mark in the mile.

Tim Harte continued the frustration for Harvard when he was half a second too slow to qualify for the finals in the 3000-meter run. In the mile, both Christopher Woodward and Nicholas Arena ran sub-4:20 times but did not have enough to kick themselves into the finals either.

John Brzezenski faced the toughest competition at the meet in the 35-lb. weight. He placed ninth in a field which included seven NCAA qualifiers.

The Big Bz

Although he has consistently placed in the top spots at meets this year, Brzezenski was not disappointed with his performance. "This is definitely the best conference in the nation for the weight throwers. I threw well this winter and I think I'm going to be stronger in the spring when I focus on my discus throwing, too."

Star sophomore sprinter Derek Horner did not qualify for the events this weekend and Captain John Mee was still sidelined with a pulled hamstring.

The spring brings hope for the men's team when the squad is traditionally stronger. Rahe pointed out that the men took ninth-place in the indoor Heps last year but then placed fifth in the spring. He hopes the return of Mee and strong performances from promising freshmen and sophomores should give the team the shot in the legs for the spring season.

Women

Suzanne Jones captured first place in the five kilometer run with a time of 16:26.72, while Cathy Griffin snared sixth place in the 20 lb, weight, in the Eastern Division I Women's Meet at Boston University this weekend. Athletes from approximately 70 schools competed in the event.