Men's Track and Field Wins Six Events at Westminster

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's track and field team posted an impressive day at Westminster highlighted by victories in six events. As a team the Lions finished in second place with a team score of 196.

Mitchell Obenrader (Fryburg, PA/North Clarion) led Behrend with two first place finishes in the shot put and javelin throw, and also came in second in the discus throw. Obenrader posted an ECAC qualifying heave of 61.06m in the javelin throw. He put up a mark of 15.49m in the shot put and tallied 43.20m in the discus throw.

Kevin Gardner, (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) an indoor track All-American, continued his successful 2015 campaign with a first place finish in the high jump. Gardner leaped to a mark of 1.94m.

Behrend dominated the pole vault competition placing four out of the top five contestants. Bobby Monteparte (Jeannette, PA/Hempfield) won the event posting 4.05m. Zachary Uncapher (New Kensington, PA/Kiski Area) came in third while Brett Farley (McKeon, PA/General McLane) finished fourth. Uncapher and Farley both recorded marks of 3.75m. Seth Kodner (Camp Hill, PA/Camp Hill) put up 3.45m, good for fifth place.

Ryan Horstman provided a victory in the triple jump. Horstman won the event carding a mark of 12.36m.

The Lions also had a great showing in the 1,500m run taking the top four spots. The event was won by Dylan Buffington (Brookville, PA/Brookville) who ran a time of 4:09.56. Cody Cornell (Conneaut Lake, PA/Conneaut Lake) took second place with a time of 4:21.71, while Josh Natalie (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy-Strong Vincent) and Victor Kolbin (Westport, CT/Staples) came in third and fourth place with times of 4:22.05 and 4:22.56, respectively.

The 800m run saw Behrend place three of the top five finishers. Devin Beggs (Franklin, PA/Franklin) headed the Lions with a second place finish. Beggs had a time of 1:59.69. Buffington came in third with a mark of 2:02.19, and Cornell rounded out the trio in the third place running a 2:03.71.

Greg Graf (South Park, PA/South Park) took second place in the 400m dash. Graf posted a time 51.75.

Ian Griffith (Murrysville, PA/Franklin Regional) and Alan Yocca (Plum, PA/Plum) finished second and third respectively in the 5,000m run. Griffith ran a 17:27.34 while Yocca ran a 17:33.34.

The Lions travel to Carnegie Mellon next Saturday. Events are expected to begin at 10 a.m.