Men's Track & Field Secures United East Championship; Cotton Named Field Athlete of the Year

ERIE, Pa. - The Penn State Behrend men's track & field team won its first ever United East Outdoor Championship with 296 team points, outscoring eight other teams this weekend.

Noteworthy:

* Alex Cotton (Saxoburg, PA/Knoch) earned United East Men's Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year
* Head coach Greg Cooper was named the United East Men's Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year

Key Moments:

* Cotton won the shot put with a throw of 50-11. He was followed on the podium by Antonio Faraone (47-6 3/4) (New Castle, PA/Union), Max Rohl (Horsehead, NY/Horseheads) (46-4 1/4), and Dan Dabrowski (Harborcreek, PA/Harbor Creek) (45-2 1/2)
* Aiden Grieneisen (Brockway, PA/Brockway Area) earned a gold medal with a javelin throw of 165-7, Matthew Laslavic (Evans City, PA/Seneca Valley) (152-1) tallied third place
* In the high jump, Samuel Hetrick (New Bethlehem, PA/Redbank Valley) (6-6 3/4) and Derek Hillhouse (Erie, PA/McDowell) (6-2 1/2) went first and second. Odis Florence (Streetsboro, OH/Streetsboro) notched a fifth-place height of 5-8 1/2
* Behrend secured six of the top eight times in the 1500m
* Kody Klein (North East, PA/Cathedral Prep) was the winner with a time of 4:04.58, followed by third-place finisher Nicolin Pierce, fifth-place finisher Aidan Reinsel (North East, PA/North East), sixth-place finisher Aidan Domencic (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley), seventh-place finisher Peyton Brewer (Erie, PA/Harbor Creek), and eighth-place finisher David Gahagan (South Park, PA/South Park)
* Klein was also the champion in the 800m with a time of 1:55.70, while Pierce earned another third-place finish
* In the 110m hurdles, Florence (16.41) and Dominic Marino (Girard, PA/Girard) (16.91) placed second and third
* Aiden Seeman recorded a second-place finish in the 400m hurdles with a time of 59.18. Seeman was followed by Reinsel and Marino in fourth and fifth
* Jake Egizio (Canonsburg, PA/Canon-McMillan) registered a runner-up finish with a time of 51.00 in the 400m dash, while Jake Walden (Erie, PA/Cathedral Prep) (52.06) finished sixth
* Egizio went on to finish third in the 200m dash (22.10)
* Bennett Kerr (Murrysville, PA/Franklin Regional) delivered a second-place in the 5000m with a time of 16:17.55. Emil George (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) and Joey George (Leechburg, PA/Kiski) placed fourth and seventh in this event
* The 4x1 relay team of Hetrick, Egizio, Florence, Marshall Nock (Aliquippa, PA/Hopewell) claimed a runner-up time of 43.18, while Seeman, Klein, Walden, and Egizio anchored the 4x4 relay finish of third place
* The top three finishers in each event earned All-United East honors

Up Next:

* Behrend heads to Allegheny on Thursday, May 9