ERIE, Pa. - The Penn State Behrend men's and women's track and field teams are set to compete in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships this weekend hosted by Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY.
On the men's side, 10 athletes have qualified for the two-day championship event.
Matthew Grafton (Worthington, PA/ Kittanning) – 500m and 60m hurdles
Dylan Buffington (Brookville, PA/Brookville) – 800m
4x200m - Kurt Eberhardt (Gibsonia, PA/Hampton), Luke Patten (West Middlesex, PA/West Middlesex), Marcus Haeseler (North East, PA/North East), Grant Rodgers (Oil City, PA/Oil City) , Devin Ross (Shenango, PA/Shenango), and Grafton.
Patten – pole vault
Luke Aaron (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) – pole vault
Elijah Dangrow (Greenville, PA/Greenville) – pole vault
Mitchell Obenrader (Fryburg, PA/North Clarion) – shot put
The women and their respective events are as follows:
Paige Allen (Butler, PA/Butler) – 60m and 200m
Katelyn Hancock (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) – 1000m
4x200m Relay - Haley Yenchik (Cecil, PA/Canon McMillan), Ashlyn Carlsson (Butler, PA/Knoch), Courtney Sargent (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy), Maura Costa (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin), and Allen.
4x400m Relay – Gabriella Loeffler (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) Carlsson, Yenchik, Allen, Hancock Sargent
4000mDMR – Caitlin Plazony (Fairview, PA/Fairview), Rachel Ramsey (North Versailles, PA/East Allegheny), Shelton, Sargent, Hancock
Yenchik – pole vault
Currently, only Patten and Obenrader are in position to qualify for NCAAs on the men's side while Allen is on the women's side. Patten is sixth in the nation in the pole vault with a height of 4.94m while Obenrader sits fourth in the shot put with a distance of 16.98m. Allen's time of 7.79 in the 60m dash places her 14th in the nation. All ECAC qualifying athletes will be looking to improve on their times and distances to move up in the NCAA rankings
The ECAC meet is set to get started on Friday at 12 p.m. and will be followed by an 11 a.m. start on Saturday to wrap things up.