Behrend's Hartzler Headed to NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships

Penn State Behrend's Bryson Hartzler (Belleville, PA/Indian Valley) has qualified for the NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships which will be hosted May 21-23 by Marietta College.

Hartzler was part of a group of Behrend track & field athletes who recently competed at the ECAC Championships.  In the high jump, the sophomore cleared a mark of 6' 4.75" to finish in sixth place.  Hartzler qualified for the NCAA championships when he set a school record with a jump of 6' 8.75" earlier this season.

Hartzler will be the third student-athlete in Penn State Behrend track and field history to compete at the NCAA championships, following Staci Banaszek (2006) and Dan Mitchell (2006, 2007).

Hartzler's top high jump mark of the year is currently in a six-way tie for the tenth ranked jump in the nation.  To earn All-American honors, athletes must place in the top eight of their respective events at the championships. 

Head coach Greg Cooper said, "Bryson's goal and my goal are to achieve a top-eight finish at the NCAA championships.  We both feel he is ready to jump his highest right now, and look forward to competing with the other top high jumpers in the nation."

At the ECAC championships, Behrend also got notable performances from several other athletes.  Ronzon Mazany (Ashville, NY/Panama Central) who cleared 22' 2.25" in the long jump, just barely missed qualifying for the NCAA championships.  Virginia Rodgers-Owens (Washington, DC/Dunbar) ran the finals of the 100 meter dash in 12.79 seconds, good for a seventh place finish, while Mike Stark (Gibsonia, PA/Pine Richland) came through with 5591 points in the decathlon, finishing in seventh place