Lions Notch Tenth Place Finish at ECAC's

The Penn State Behrend men’s track and field team capped off their 2015 season with a 10th place team finish at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) outdoor championships. The Lions earned 24 total points which included one victory from Mitchell Obenrader.

Lions Notch Tenth Place Finish at ECAC's
May 15, 2015

SPRINGFIELD, Ma. – The Penn State Behrend men's track and field team capped off their 2015 season with a 10th place team finish at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) outdoor championships. The Lions earned 24 total points which included one victory from Mitchell Obenrader (Fryburg, PA/North Clarion).

The defending national champion in the javelin throw, Obenrader added another win to his collection posting a throw of 211'4". He also competed in the shot put and discus throw, adding 13th and sixth places finishes respectively. Obenrader posted a mark of 48'6" in the shot put and 149'5" in the discus.

Matthew Grafton (Worthington, PA/Kittanning) lifted Behrend with a record-breaking effort in the decathlon. His 5,777 points were most in school history, breaking the record Grafton had set previously this season. Grafton's best events were the 400m dash, 110m hurdles and the high jump. He clocked in at 51.01 in the 400m dash, tallied a time of 15.69 in the 110m hurdles and eclipsed 5'10" in the high jump.

Luke Patten's (West Middlesex, PA/West Middlesex) mark of 15'6.25" in the pole vault was good enough for third place at the competition while Kevin Gardner (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) tacked on a sixth place finish in the high jump. Gardner posted his best performance of the season in the high jump notching a leap of 6'8".

Two relay squads competed for the Lions in the 4x100 and 4x800m. Greg Graf, (South Park, PA/South Park) Joseph Neff, (North East, PA/North East) Phil Martone (Erie, PA/Mercyhurst Prep) and Cody Cornell (Conneaut Lake, PA/Conneaut Lake) paced a 25th place finish in the 4x100, notching a time of 45.38.

 In the 4x800, Dylan Buffington, (Brookville, PA/Brookville) Devin Beggs, (Franklin, PA/Franklin) Alan Yocca, (Plum, PA/Plum) Josh Natalie, (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy-Strong Vincent) and Victor Kolbin (Westport, CT/Staples) sprinted to a time of 8:00.22. The mark placed the relay team in 21st.

Buffington also ran in the 800m run event. The freshman clocked in at 1:56.79, good for 23rd place.

The men's track and field team finished the season with three wins and a second place in scored invitationals and will send Obenrader to the NCAA championships to defend his national title in the javelin throw. Obenrader will compete next weekend in Canton, NY.