Lydon, McWilliams Lead Lions at Mt. Union Invitational

ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Penn State Behrend men's track and field team competed at the Mt. Union Invitational on Saturday.

Denis Lydon (Plum, PA/Plum) and Matt McWilliams (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) each had top finishes to lead the Lions in their third outing of the year.

Lydon took first place in the 3000m run with a time of 8:55.85.  McWilliams won the 1000m run, crossing the line at 2:37.80.

In the distance medley relay, McWilliams teamed up with Josh Natalie (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy), Devin Beggs (Franklin, PA/Franklin), and Nick Marzka (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf).  The squad finished in second place with a time of 10:46.59.

Kalil Slaughter (Sheffield, PA/Sheffield) had an ECAC qualifying time in the 60m dash.  The freshman took third place at 7.10.  Slaughter also competed in the 200m, taking fourth place with a time of 23.07.

Jason Zabelsky (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) had a strong time in the 5000m.  Zabelsky took fifth at 16:41.70. 

In the 500m, Kevin Lai (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) and Marzka each placed in the top-10.  Lai placed sixth at 1:10.47 with Marzka taking ninth place at 1:12.16.  In the 800m, Beggs took seventh place with a time of 2:05.32.  Phil Martone (Erie, PA/Mercyhurst Prep) competed in the 800m as well, taking eighth place at 2:06.44.

In the field events, Behrend continued to have an excellent day.  John Cerminara (Williamsburg, VA/Jamestown) participated in both the weight throw and the shot put.  Cerminara took ninth in the weight throw with a distance of 12.83m and second in the shot put at 14.15m.  Kevin Lesniak was just behind Cerminara in the shot put at 13.00m for sixth place.

Two Lions had top-10 finishes in the pole vault.  Dylan Bilka (Seven Fields, PA/Seneca Valley) took second at 4.46m while Anthony Paterno (Butler, PA/Butler) took ninth place after vaulting 4.01m.

Dylan Beck (Saxonburg, PA/Knoch) and Milt Sibanda (Jefferson, PA/Jefferson-Morgan) competed in the triple jump, placing third and fourth, respectively.  Beck jumped 12.56m and Sibanda leaped 12.35m.  In the long jump, three athletes had good distances.  Geoffrey Faltot (Mercer, PA/Mercer) took third place at 6.51m.  Sibanda took sixth place at 6.10m and Slaughter placed seventh with a distance of 5.75m.

Behrend will be back in action on Friday and Saturday at the Cornell Invitational in Ithaca, New York.