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 men had one first-place finish and 12 in the Top Five.
Senior Dylan Buffington (Brookville, PA/Brookville) was the winner of the 3000 run with a time of 8:49.31, good enough to qualify for the ECAC's. Chris Drozynski (Stoneboro, PA/Lakeview), Zach Wortman (St. Mary's, PA/Elk County Catholic), and Timothy Wheeler (Albion, PA/Northwestern) placed third, fourth, and fifth with times of 9:21.42, 9:34.68, and 9:53.25, respectively.
Braeden Smith (Erie, PA/Seneca) qualified for ECACs in the high jump in his first meet placing fifth with a jump of 1.90m (6'2.75").
Kyle Grimm (Beaver, PA/Beaver) came in third in pole vault with a height of 14'7.25". Jack Georgetson (Aliquippa, PA/Hopewell) and Kevin Stebick (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) placed fourth and fifth with heights of 13'1.50". Elijah Dangrow (Greenville, PA/Greenville) and Adam Dietrick (Muncy, PA/Muncy) followed in sixth and seventh at 3.85m (12'7.50") and 3.40m (11'1.75"), respectively.
Adam Hanes (Wattsburg, PA/Seneca) and Colton Barger (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy) ran times of 2:03.25 and 2:08.76, respectively, to earn fourth and sixth in the 800 run. Hanes also placed ninth in the 200 dash with a time of 23.94.
Behrend's "A" team took part in the 800 relay and finished in second place at 1:34.59. Behrend's 1600m "A" team placed third with a time of 3:36.29 while the "B" team finished fourth in the 1600m and the "D" team finished in sixth.
Kurt Eberhardt (Gibsonia, PA/Hampton) was just shy of qualifying for the ECAC's in the 60 dash with a time of 7.20. He continued his day by finishing in eighth in the 200m dash at 23.70.
Devin Ross (Shenango, PA/Shenango) came in 11th after running a final time of 53.53 in the 400 dash and 15th in the 200 with a time of 2437 while Greg Graf (South Park, PA/South Park) earned third place in the 500 dash at a time of 1:09.98 and ninth in the 200 at 23.94
Their next meet is scheduled for Saturday, January 20 beginning at 10 a.m.