Men's Track and Field Win CSAC Championship; Grafton, Obenrader Named Athletes of the Year
The Penn State Behrend men's track and field team combined for 280 points to win their second consecutive Colonial States Athletic Confernece (CSAC) Title Sunday afternoon.
LA PLUME, Pa. - The Penn State Behrend men's track and field team combined for 280 points to win their second consecutive Colonial States Athletic Confernece (CSAC) Title Sunday afternoon.
Mitchell Obenrader was named Field Athlete of the Year and Matthew Grafton was honored with Track Athlete of the Year.
Obenrader had a huge weekend for the Lions, taking first in shot put, hammer, and discus throws. He set a new personal-best in the shot put, breaking his old school record, to win the event with a toss of 17.56 meters. He then took first in the hammer after a 42.56 meter throw and finished with a championship-winning discus throw of 47.75 meters.
In distance, Dylan Buffington (Brookville, PA/Brookville) had first-place finishes in both the 1500 and 800 meter races. He ran the 800 in 1:59.08, edging out teammates Stefan Carlsson (Butler, PA/Knoch), Chris Drozynski (Stoneboro, PA/Lakeview), and Greg Graf (South Park, PA/South Park), who came in second, third, and fourth, respectively.
In the 1500 meter run, Drozynski, and Alex Kubala (Pittsburgh, PA/North Hills) joined Buffington in the top three. Buffington crossed the finish in 4:08.99 while Drozynski and Kubala were just behind with times of 4:09.84 and 4:11.04.
Kubala then earned first in the 5000 meter run after crossing the line in 16:03.23.
Aaron Peters (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) and Jarrod Lipsey (Kersey, PA/St. Mary's Area) finsihed in the top-two spots in the 3000 meter steeplechase. Peters won with a time of 9:56.91 and Lipsey crossed in 10:18.99.
The 4x100 meter relay, consisting of Kurt Eberhardt (Gibsonia, PA/Hampton), Grafton, Luke Patten (West Middlesex, PA/West Middlesex) and Grant Rodgers (Oil City, PA/Oil City), took the crown after edging Keystone by .47 seconds, crossing the finish in 43.06.
In 110 hurdles, Grafton took first with a time of 15.30 and was joined by teammates Colby Tarr (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands) and Max Livingood (Washington, PA/McGuffey) who earned third and fifth place, respectively. Grafton and Tarr finished second and third in the 400 meter hurdles with times of 54.35 and 1:00.63, respectively.
Grafton was edged in the 100 meter dash finals, taking second in a time of 11.55 seconds. He then came in fifth in the 200 meter dash, posting a 22.16 mark.
On the field side, Grafton and Tarr came in second and third in the javelin throw. Grafton threw a distance of 49.18 meters and Tarr threw 47.17 meters.
Luke Aaron (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) won the pole vault with a height of 4.15 meters. Elijah Dangrow (Greenville, PA/Greenville) took second and Patten came in third.
Patten then took fourth in the triple jump and Rodgers came in fifth. They posted distances of 12.48 and 11.82 meters, respectively.
Tony Antonucci (Wexford, PA/North Allegheny) and Brian Hazel (Pittsburgh, PA/Keystone Oaks) joined Obenradar in the top-five shot put finishes. Antonucci's throw of 13.32 meters earned him third while Hazel took fourth with a 12.97 meter toss.
The Lions will compete at the Allegheny Gator Invite on Friday beginning at 9 a.m.