Men’s Track and Field Wins Third Straight

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's track and field team won the Westminster Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

The Lions have now won four meets this year with their latest win marking the teams third straight.

Behrend was led by Dylan Bilka (Seven Fields, PA/Seneca Valley) and John Cerminara (Williamsburg, VA/Jamestown) who both qualified for ECAC's.  Bilka won the pole vault at 4.50m while Cerminara won the discus at 43.62m.  Cerminara also competed in the shot put, taking second with a distance of 14.38m.  Matthew Miller (South Park, PA/South Park) and Garrett Shaw (Saxonburg, PA/Knoch) participated in the pole vault with Bilka.  Miller took fifth at 4.12m with Shaw just behind Bilka in second place at 4.42m.

Matt McWilliams (Wateford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) was one of three individual winners for the Lions on the track.  McWilliams won both the 800m and 1500m with times of 1:58.67 and 4:08.47, respectively.  Brian Lauff (McDonald, PA/Fort Cherry) won the 110m hurdles at 16.46.  Denis Lydon (Plum, PA/Plum) took first in the 5000m at 15:45.44.  Devin Beggs (Franklin, PA/Franklin) also contended in the 800m with McWilliams, placing fifth at 2:03.22.  Josh Natalie (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy) took fifth in the 1500m with a time of 4:15.86.

In the 400m hurdles, Andres Morales (Alajuela, Costa Rica/ICS) placed second at 58.84.  Tyler Yost (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) and Kevin Gardner (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) each had third place finishes for Behrend.  Yost crossed the finish line in 10:22.75 in the 3000m steeplechase with Gardner leaping 1.83m in the high jump.

Staying in the field, two athletes had top-5 finishes in the triple jump.  Milt Sibanda (Jefferson, PA/Jefferson-Morgan) placed second at 13.10m with Conor MacMannis (Stafford, VA/Kubeszki) bringing home a fifth place a 12.61m.  Geoffrey Faltot (Mercer, PA/Mercer) competed in the field as well, taking fourth in the long jump with a distance of 6.52m.

Braden Davis (Butler, PA/Butler) rounded out the top performers with a fifth place finish in the 10000m run.  The senior crossed the line at 36:28.58.

The Lions will be back in action on Tuesday for the Allegheny Tri-Meet.