ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's and women's track and field teams are heading to Westfield State University to compete at the 2017 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships May 17-18 at the Jerry Gravel Track in Westfield, Massachusetts.
The Lions return two ECAC Champions in senior Mitchell Obenrader (Fryburg, PA/North Clarion) and Luke Patten (West Middlesex, PA/West Middlesex). Obenrader won the javelin and Patten was the individual champion in the pole vault at the 2016 Outdoor ECAC Championships. Patten will be competing in the pole vault once again as well as the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Obenrader will look to win the ECAC title in the discus and shot put.
The men's side has eight other athletes also qualify for the two-day championship event.
Luke Aaron (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) and Elijah Dangrow (Greenville, PA/Greenville) will join Patten in the pole vault. Tony Antonucci (Wexford, PA/North Allegheny) qualified in the hammer throw, while Marcus Haesler (North East, PA/North East) will compete in the 110 hurdles and Kurt Eberhardt (Gibsonia, PA/Hampton) is set for the 100m.
The relay teams will consist of Patten, Greg Graf (South Park, PA/South Park), Grant Rodgers (Oil City, PA/Oil City) and Devin Ross (Shenango, PA/Shenango) for the 4x400. Eberhardt, Rogers, Patten and Haesler will make up the 4x100 team.
For the women, senior Paige Allen (Butler, PA/Butler) will compete to keep her title in the 200m from last year. She was also runner up in the 100m. In addition to these two events, she will run a leg on the 4x400 and 4x100 relays.
The women are sending six other athletes to represent Behrend.
Rachel Pell (Elizabeth, PA/Elizabeth Forward) is participating in the 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles along with the 4x400 and 4x100 relays. Hayley Yenchik (Cecil, PA/Canon McMillan) is competing in the triple jump, the pole vault and the 4x100 relay.
Katelyn Hancock (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) and Ashlyn Carlsson (Butler, PA/Knoch) complete the 4x400 relay. They will also be a part of the 4x800 relay with Jenna Shelton (Cabot, PA/Knoch) and Courtney Sargent (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy). Individually, Hancock will lead the Lions in the 800m, while Sargent is competing in the 3,000 steeplechase.