ITHACA, NY – The Penn State Behrend men's track and field team competed Saturday afternoon at the Ithaca Bomber Invitational.
The 4x200 relay team finished first and qualified for ECACs. Kurt Eberhardt (Gibsonia, PA/Hampton), Matthew Grafton (Worthington, PA/Kittanning), Luke Patten (West Middlesex, PA/West Middlesex), and Grant Rodgers (Oil City, PA/Oil City) teamed up for a 1:31.89 time and a first-place crown.
Grafton then competed in the 60 meter hurdles, coming in seventh place with a time of 8.60 seconds.
Aaron Peters (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) had a fifth-place finish in the 500 meter dash. The senior sprinted to a time of 1:09.21. Teammate Devin Ross (Shenango, PA/Shenango) crossed the line less than one second later (1:10.08) to come in ninth place.
Behrend had two distance runners earn a top-10 finish in the 1000 meter run. Christopher Drozynski (Stoneboro, PA/Lakeview) and Michael Cross (Fairview, PA/Fairview) crossed the line just two seconds apart to earn seventh and 10th place with times of 2:40.08 and 2:42.18, respectively.
In the 5000 meter run, Jarod Lipsey (Kersey, PA/St. Mary's Area) and Ian Griffith (Murrysville, PA/Franklin Regional placed ninth and 10th, respectively. Lipsey ran to a 16:19.42 time while Griffith crossed the line in 16:19.90.
On the field side, Tony Antonucci (Wexford, PA/North Allegheny) competed in the 35 pound throw for the first time this season. The senior made a 14.94 meter throw (49'0") to come in seventh place.
In the shot put, Mitchell Obenrader (Fryburg, PA/North Clarion) edged out Brockport's Jon Rogers by 2 centimeters to take first place with a 16.64m throw (54'7.25").
Ryan Horstman (Butler, PA/Butler) nabbed a ninth-place finish in the triple jump after he posted a distance of 12.73 meters (41'9").
Elijah Dangrow (Greenville, PA/Greenville) and Patten capped off the long day in pole vault. Patten came in second place after vaulting to a height of 4.80 meters (15'9"). Dangrow had an ECAC-qualifying 4.40 meter jump (14'5.25"). He finished tied for fifth place.
The men will compete again next weekend at the Tiffin Dragon Invite beginning at 12 p.m. on Saturday.