Men's Track and Field Finishes Second at CMU

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's track team came in second place out of four team with a score of 198 at the Carnegie Mellon Quad Meet Saturday.

Mitchell Obenrader (Fryburg, PA/North Clarion) broke his school record in the shot put, placing first with a distance of 17.07m (56' 00"). He also won the javelin with a distance of 59.82m (196' 3") and took second in the hammer throw at 42.08m (138' 1"). 

His shot put and javelin throws qualify him for ECACs and rank him second in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) for each event.

Kevin Gardner (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) also ranks second in the ECAC, but in the high jump. He won the high jump Saturday at height of 1.98m (6' 6").

Gardner was also part of the ECAC qualifying 4x100m relay team with Joseph Neff (North East, PA/North East), Luke Patten (West Middlesex, PA/West Middlesex) and Matthew Grafton (Worthington, PA/Kittanning). They posted a second-place finish in a time of 43.54.

Patten took first place in the pole vault with a height of 4.31m (14' 1.75"), Neff placed second in the long jump at a distance of 6.08m (19' 11.5") and Eric Bevacqua (Johnsonburg, PA/Johnsonburg) finish behind Obenrader in the javelin, taking second place with a distance of 50.24m (164' 10").

Ian Griffith (Murrysville, PA/Franklin Regional) and Jarrod Lipsy (Kersey, PA/St. Mary's Area) finished three-four in the 300m steeplechase, posting times of 10:27.42 and 10:30.77 respectively. Colby Tarr (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands) won the 110m hurdles at a smooth 16.72 and also took second in the 400m hurdles with a time of 58.87.

Dylan Buffington (Brookville, PA/Brookville) finished third in the 3000m and the 800m at 9:22.92 and 1:56.42 respectively. His 800m time broke a meet record by .44 seconds.

Matt McWilliams (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) and Josh Natalie finished the 1500m run in second and fourth place respectively. McWilliams posted a 4:05.61 and Natalie finished in 4:07.57.

In the 400, Grafton finished third with a time of 51.58 while Oluwaseun Babalola (Westbury, NY/St. Anthony's) finished third in the 100m at 11.85. Grafton and Babalola took fourth and fifth in the 200m as well, posting times of 23.84 and 24.11 respectively.

The Lions return to action track at Mount Union next Friday and Saturday for a two-day meet. Events start at 10 a.m. each day.