Lions Battle To Fourth Place Finish at Brockport

BROCKPORT, NY - The Penn State Behrend men's track and field team had 14 Top 10 finishes and took fourth as a team in the Brockport Invitational Saturday afternoon.

Matthew Grafton (Worthington, PA/Kittanning) had the lone first-place finish for the Lions, winning the 60m hurdles in a time of 8.62. He then ran to a fourth-place finish in the 500m dash. The senior crossed the line in 1:08.19, less than two seconds behind the leader.

Behrend had two others finish in the Top 10 in the 60m hurdles. Marcus Haesler (North East, PA/North East) and Max Livingood (Washington, PA/McGuffey) finished fifth and eighth, respectively. Haesler had a time of 8.92 while Livingood finish in 9.53.

Devin Ross (Shenango, PA/Shenango) raced to a seventh place finish in the 500m dash. He earned a time of 1:09.24. He then took part in the 4x400m team that took sixth with a time of 3:35.46. Also on that team was Colby Tarr (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands), Shane MacMahon (Mohnton, PA/Governor Mifflin) and Grafton.

The Lions "B" team also placed in the 4x400m race. Kurt Eberhardt (Gibsonia, PA/Hampton), Luke Patton (West Middlesex, PA/West Middlesex), Grant Rodgers (Oil City, PA/Oil City), and Michael Cross (Fairview, PA/Fairview) teamed up for a nineth place finish with a time of 3:38.51.

Eberhardt, Ross and Rodgers each added an individual top 10 finish of their own to go along with placing in the 4x400m. Eberhardt finished third in the 200m dash with a time of 23.29. Rodgers finished just behind him with a time of 23.91, good enough for 10th place. Ross took seveth in the 500m dash. He raced to a 1:09.24 finish.

Dylan Buffington (Brookville, PA/Brookville) raced to a second-place finish in the 1-mile run. He finished less than a second behind the leader with a time of 4:29.17. Chris Drozynski (Stoneboro, PA/Lakeview) came in behind Buffington with a time of 4:38.47, good enough for fifth place.

Behrend had four men place on the field side. Rodgers took to the high jump where he finished in eighth place after jumping to a height of 1.73m (5'7"). Patten jumped 4.60m (15'1") in the pole vault, giving him a second place finish.

Mitchell Obenrader (Fryburg, PA/North Clarion) placed second in the shot put with a toss of 15.93m (52'3"). Ryan Horstman capped off the field events with an eighth place finish in the long jump. He posted a distance of 6.00m (19'7").

The Lions will compete again next Saturday when they travel to Ithaca for the Bomber Invite beginning at 10 a.m.