ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men’s and women’s track and field teams will host a quad meet on Saturday, marking the program’s first-ever home meet.

The competition will take place on the newly constructed outdoor track and field facility located adjacent to the Behrend Fields.

For the coaches and athletes, the experience will be one to remember.  Katie Patterson (Erie, PA/Villa Maria) is beyond excited despite the fact that she will only be competing on the new track once as she will be graduating next week.  “I’m excited about it and I know my teammates are too, especially the younger athletes who will get to experience it for three or four years,” said Patterson.

The Lions will be welcoming track and field athletes from Gannon, Mercyhurst, and Franciscan for the inaugural meet.  Head coach Greg Cooper knows it will be hard to host a meet, particularly for the first time, but says it will all be worth it. “For the coaches, a lot goes into running a meet; it’s more stressful, but worth it for our athletes,” Cooper stated.

Cooper, who is in his seventh season as the head coach, previously served as an assistant coach under his father and was also a member of the track and field team as a student athlete at Behrend.  “As a program, it’s awesome to be able to do this for the first time.  I have been waiting for this meet since I was a student-athlete at Behrend,” said Cooper.  “For the athletes it will be less stressful because we will be competing at home in front of a friendly crowd at a familiar track.”

Junior Catie Bertges (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy) agreed, “I’m super excited because we can sleep in and be fully rested for our events.”

As the track and field program at Behrend continues to move forward, assistant coach Doug Stratton is extremely enthusiastic about the future.  “This is a great time to be a part of this program as we start a new chapter,” stated Stratton.

The competition will begin at 11 a.m. with the field events and 12:30 p.m. with the running events.