ALLIANCE, Oh - The Penn State Behrend men's track and field team kicked off their season this Saturday at the Mount Union Toy Drive Invitational.

In all, the Lions had six first-place finishes and 19 in the Top Five.

Luke Patten (West Middlesex, PA/West Middlesex) came in first in pole vault with a height of 15'9.25" to qualify for ECAC's. Mitchell Obenrader (Fryburg, PA/North Clarion) finished first in the shot put and broke a new school record with his throw of 16.92m (55'6").

Junior Dylan Buffington (Brookville, PA/Brookville) was a double invitational winner on the day, winnning the mile run and 800m with times of 4:20.39 and 2:01.18, respectively. Aaron Peters (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) came in fifth in the 800m with a time of 2:11.22

Kurt Brautigam (Gibsonia, PA/Hampton) annd Tyler McClimons (Conneaut Lake, PA/Conneaut Lake) finished first and second in the 3000m run with times of 10:53.92 and 11:07.68, respectively while the 800m relay A team took first and the B team took third. Brautigam also took third in the 1000m while Jared Dailey (Seneca, PA /Cranberry) and McClimans took fourth and fifth.

Michael Cross (Fairview, PA/Fairview) finished the 500m dash in fifth place with a time of 1:11.44 and Behrend's 1600m A team took third while the 3200m A team took second.

Grant Rodgers (Oil City, PA/Oil City) took fifth in the high jump (1.76m) and Ryan Horstman (Butler, PA/Butler) took third in the triple jump with a distance of 12.81m.

Behrend will have a little break before they get back into action in January. Their next meet is scheduled for Saturday, January 21 beginning at 10 a.m.