ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's track and field team competed at their annual Behrend Invitational Saturday afternoon.
On the day, 11 athletes hit Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) qualifying marks.
Grant Rodgers (Oil City, PA/Oil City) broke his 400m school record for the second week in a row, running at a new time and ECAC qualifier of 48.62 for a first-place finish. He also qualified for the ECACs in the 400m hurdles with a fourth-place time of 57.63.
In the 110m hurdles, Colby Tarr (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands) punched his ticket to the ECACs with a time of 16.32, good enough for fourth place. Marcus Haeseler (North East, PA/North East) took fifth in the 110m hurdles with a time of 17.25.
Jeremy Spricher (Beaver Falls, PA/Riverside) also ran an ECAC qualifying mark in the 400m hurdles. He took sixth in the 400m hurdles with a final time of 57.93.
The 4x100m and 4x400m relays both earned spots at the ECAC championships. In the 4x100, Kurt Eberhardt (Gibsonia, PA/Hampton), Greg Graf (South Park, PA/South Park), Devin Ross (Shenango, PA/Shenango), and Rodgers ran a time of 43.14 for second-place, while Nick Coleman (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin), Colton Barger (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy), Ross, and Graf ran a winning time of 3:30.44. The 4x800m relay comprised of Barger, Chris Drozynski (Stoneboro, PA/Lakeview), Jarrod Lipsey (Kersey, PA/St. Mary's Area), and Michael Cross (Fairview, PA/Fairview) took first with a time of 8:08.66.
Eberhardt took third in the 100m run with a time of 11.25, and also placed fifth in the 200m run at 23.10. Ross finished just behind him in the 200m, running at 23.40 for sixth.
Alex Kubala (Pittsburgh, PA/North Hills) crossed the finish line in fourth in the 1500m run, running a time of 4:17.32.
In the field events, Braeden Smith (Erie, PA/Seneca) took first in the high jump with an ECAC qualifying mark of 2.00m. Jack Georgetson (Aliquippa, PA/Hopewell) also earned a spot at the ECACs in the pole vault, leaping at a height of 4.31m for first. Kevin Stebick (Waterford, PA/Fort LaBoeuf) finished in third in the pole vault with a height of 4.01m.
Matt Michael (Erie, PA/Iroquois) punched his ticket for the ECACs in both the shot put and discus. He took third in both events, throwing a distance of 13.09m in the shot put and 40.14m in the discus.
In the javelin, Ethan Rhodes (Wyalusing, PA/ Wyalusing) placed for the ECACs with a ticket toss of 53.49m. Tarr threw a distance of 48.64 for second place, qualifying for the championships.
John LaRoche (Union City, PA/Seneca) also qualified for the ECACs, throwing 40.71m in the hammer toss for fourth place.
The Lions are back in action next Friday at the Ashland Invitational. The meet is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. on Friday followed by a 10 a.m. start on Saturday.