AMHERST, Mass. -- The George Mason's women's track and field team won the 2023 Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championship with 161 points Sunday at the UMass Track & Field Complex. It marks the fifth A-10 title for the Patriots, and the first since 2019.
 
Mason won three events, and recorded a total of 16 medals across 12 different events. Annabelle Eastman won the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 10:08.77. Grace Furlong was the long jump champion with a leap of 6.02 meters, and her teammate Henrike Fielder won silver with a 5.96 meter jump. The Patriots took all three medals in the triple jump, led by Dhiambi Otete, whose 12.77 meter leap equaled a facility record. Furlong (12.67m) and Kelsey Sebwe (12.49m) also medaled.  
VCU finished in second place with 130.5 points, followed by Massachusetts in third with 108.5 and Rhode Island in fourth with 88 points. Dayton was fifth with 76.5 points, Davidson (64 points) was sixth and Richmond rounded out the top half of the league in seventh with 58 points.
 
Second-place VCU had Lauryn Taylor named the most Outstanding Track Performer. Taylor captured gold in the 100 meters, setting new facility records in prelims and finals, with a final time of 11.56. She also won the 200 meters with a time of 23.98. Her teammate Jocelyn Midkiff was named the Most Outstanding Field Performer. Midkiff won the shot put with a 14.50 meter toss and the discuss with a 53.29 meter throw.  VCU also won the 4x100 relay with a time of 44.86, which set a new meet record. The Rams’ Gudrun Hallgrimsdottir also took gold in the hammer throw with a 55.72 meter toss.
 
UMass’ Megan Frazee won the pole vault with a 3.88 meter vault, earning A-10 Women’s Rookie of the Year. Frazee also placed ninth in the Heptathlon. Frazee’s teammate, Lillian Kirry set a meet record in the 400 meter hurdles with a 57.74. Courtney Rowland took gold for UMass in the high jump with a 1.74 meter leap.
 
Rhode Island’s Trinity Smith matched a meet record with a 13.40 time in the 100 meter hurdles. In the first event of the championship on Saturday, La Salle’s Eleanor Mancini set a facility record in the 10,000 meters with a time of 33:55.84. Mancini also won the 5,000 meters with a 16:49.42, which her sister Christine took gold in the 800 meters with a 2:08.26.
 
George Mason’s Andrew Gerard was named the Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year. The other Mason medalists were Abigail Weening (Heptathlon - 4,968 points, 2^nd), Maya Stanley (Discus – 44.75m, 2^nd), Grace Gaudin (Shot Put – 14.50m, 3^rd), Amber Askelson (Pole Vault – 3.78m, 3^rd), Lindsey Schmidt (High Jump – 1.68m, 3^rd), Sarah Francis (5000m – 17:07.88, 3^rd AND 10,000m – 35:28.20, 2^nd), and KellyAnn Downer (400m – 54.47, 3^rd).
 
Rhode Island’s Bethany DeLoof won the 400 meters with a time of 53.39 and Richmond’s Madison Trippett finished the 1,500 meters in 4:22.83 to earn a win. Dayton’s Casey Bogues won the javelin with a 48.56 meter throw. Duquesne’s Emily Brozeski scored 5,172 point to win the heptathlon, winning both the shot put and 100 meter hurdles en route to the multi-event victory. Davidson’s 4x100 relay team won with a time of 3:42.60.