GAMBIER, Oh. – The Penn State Behrend men's track and field team headed to the Kenyon Classic on Saturday afternoon in their final meet before the 2014 ECAC Indoor Championships.
Malik Moffett-Pulliam (Erie, PA/Cathedral Prep) and Kevin Gardner (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) each qualified for ECAC's in the high jump, finishing second and third with heights of 2.02m and 1.87m, respectively. Moffett-Pulliam's jump ties his own Behrend indoor record.
The freshman then broke another Behrend indoor record in the 60m dash, finishing first with an ECAC qualifying time of 6.96. Moffett-Pulliam entered the meet ranked 23rd in the nation in the 60 meter dash. Joseph Wall finished second in the same event at 7.18 seconds.
Moffett-Pulliam wasn't done, as he would later win the 200 meter dash and again qualify for ECAC's with a time of 23.03.
Geoffrey Faltot (Mercer, PA/Mercer) finished first in the long jump competition with a distance of 6.29 meters. That mark qualifies Faltot for ECAC's.
In the 800 meter run, Matt McWilliams (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) finished first with a time of 1:58.71.
The Lions team of Faltot, Moffett-Pulliam, Matthew Grafton (Worthington, PA/Kittanning), and Kevin Lai (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) qualified for ECAC's in the 4X200 meter relay, winning the event with a time of 1:31.33. That time is also good for a new Behrend indoor record.
In the shot put, Mitchell Obenrader (Fryburg, PA/North Clarion) came in second with a distance of 14.17 meters.
Brent Channer finished third (53.38) and Jeromee Geibel finished fourth (53.57) in the 400 meter dash while Luke Patten (West Middlesex, PA/West Middlesex) (4.25m) and Luke Aaron (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) (4.10m) finished second and third respectively in the pole vault competition.
The mile run saw two Behrend runners finish in the top three – McWilliams came in second at 4:25.57, and Josh Natalie (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy-Strong Vincent) finished third at 4:27.99.
Natalie later finished fourth in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:01.33.
Denis Lydon (Plum, PA/Plum) carded a fifth place finish (out of 25) in the 3000m run with a time of 9:15.28.
The Lions will have next weekend off as they prepare for the 2014 ECAC Indoor Championships on March 7 and 8 at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury Crossing, Massachusetts.
