Men's Track and Field Opens Cortland Classic With Strong First Day

CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Penn State Behrend men's track and field team opened up competition at the Cortland Classic Invitational Friday with victories in four different events. Matthew Grafton (Worthington, PA/Kittanning) is leading the decathlon after the first day with a score of 3,360.

Grafton has been impressive through five events in the decathlon notching one victory, a tie for first and a second place finish. He picked up the win in the 400m dash running a time of 50.57. The victory earned Grafton 789 points.

In the long jump, Grafton tied for first and qualified for ECAC's tallying a mark of 21' 7.5". The effort earned Grafton 718 points. His time of 11.37 in the 100m dash earned second place and 780 points to his total. Grafton added a fourth place in the high jump with a leap of 5' 9.25", and an eighth place finish in the shot put tallying a mark of 32' 6.25". The fourth place finish earned 593 points while the eighth place grabbed Grafton 480 points.

Alan Yocca (Plum, PA/Plum) broke a school record for the second time this season. His time of 15:25.86 not only broke the school record, but earned Yocca a first place finish.

Mitchell Obenrader (Fryburg, PA/North Clarion) continued his streak of victories in the javelin throw, winning the event for the fourth straight week. His throw traveled 169' 6", and was an ECAC qualifying toss.

Dylan Buffington (Brookville, PA/Brookville) and Devin Beggs (Franklin, PA/Franklin) provided solid performances in the 1,500m run placing second and third, respectively. Buffington sprinted to a time of 4:03.28 while Beggs tallied a time of 4:05.18.

Luke Aaron, (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) Luke Patten (West Middlesex, PA/West Middlesex) and Levi Varner (Middletown, PA/Middletown) turned out top ten finished in the pole vault. Aaron finished in third place and qualified for ECAC's posting a mark of 14' 9". Patten recorded 14' 3.25 for fifth place and Varner took seventh place with 13' 9.25".

Five Behrend runners placed in the top 11 of the 3,000m steeplechase. Michael Smolinski (Wexford, PA/North Allegheny) led the pack with a third place finish carding a time of 9:54.60. Tyler Yost, (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) Cody Cornell, (Conneaut Lake, PA/Conneaut Lake) Aaron Peters (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) and Ian Griffith (Murrysville, PA/Franklin Regional) finished 8-12. Yost posted a time of 10:14.26 while Cornell ran a 10:14.64. Peters tallied a 10:17.50 and Griffith added a 10:19.64.

Day two of the Cortland Classic will continue tomorrow with events beginning at 10 a.m.