By Mark Murchie (June 3, 2003)

The six George Mason track stars that qualified for states, turned in strong performances last Saturday at the University of Virginia.
 

Senior Annie Maynard, a stalwart on the team for years, finished ninth in the mile in her third appearance at states and her teammate Luisa Fairfax, running in her first state event, finished 12th in the two mile.  Senior Mark Murchie, also a stalwart running in his final race for Mason, finished 4th in the 400m dash in 50.8 seconds, his best time of the year. Niles Lashway finished 8th in the 300m hurdles in 42.0 seconds as he turned in his second best time of the year. The 4 X 400 relay team, consisting of Niles Lashway, Chad O’Hara, Mohamed Zohir and Mark Murchie turned in a time f 3:31.7, their best time of the year by four seconds.
	Senior Mark Murchie, running in his third and final  appearance at the state track meet, runs the last lap of the  4X400 relay last Saturday at Uva. (Photo by Emma O'Hara)
	These six athletes qualified for states by their performances in the rainy regional meet at Uva on May 21.  Maynard qualified for states in the mile based on time as well as placing fifth. Luisa Fairfax qualified in the 3200m (two-mile) run, placing sixth as well as running a state-qualifying time.  Sarah Stanley did not make it to states, but participated at regionals in the discus and shot put. She was not able to turn in her best throws, but completed a strong season and will be returning again next year.
Luisa Fairfax finished 12th in the two-mile run at the state  track meet last Saturday. (Photo by Emma O'Hara)

Murchie and Lashway advanced to states in two events in regionals. Murchie placed second in the 400m dash to qualify for his third and final state meet. Lashway and Murchie, along with Chad O’Hara and Mohanned Zohir, were also a part of the 4X400 relay which qualified for states with a time of 3:35.4.

Orie Bumgarner, O’Hara and Zohir also participated in individual events in regionals, but were unable to make it to states. Bumgarner went up against tough competition in the mile and two mile and came up just short but ran strong races and is looking to make states next year. O’Hara also went up against tough competition in the 880m run as did Zohir in the 400m dash but were unable to qualify in their events.
 

Mohamed Zohir, a member of the 4X400 relay team helped his team earn their best time of the year, 3:31.7. (Photo by Emma O'Hara)	Niles Lashway competes in the 4X400 relay at the state track meet last Saturday at the University of Virginia. (Photo by Emma O'Hara)