COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Set to host the Centennial Conference Championships for the third consecutive indoor season, the Ursinus College men's track and field team hopes to turn back the clocks to the 2016 campaign.
Last season, Ursinus left disappointed after winding up in seventh place and shy of its pre-meet expectations. But the Bears finished in third place two years ago, the highest for the program at the indoor meet since a runner-up showing in 2011, and they believe a similar performance is within their grasp as the CC descends on the Floy Lewis Bakes Center once again.
Championship action gets underway at 11:30 a.m. Saturday and runs through Sunday evening.
Saturday
The first event of the men's championship is the 60-meter dash, where the Bears have a pair of entrants in seniors Jamie Casseus and Jequan Mitchell. Casseus' top time of 7.43 seconds is 21st in the conference, while Mitchell ranks 12th at 7.32; Mitchell placed fifth a year ago with a personal-best 7.17.
Sophomore Codi Yhap gives Ursinus an excellent shot at a medal in the triple jump. He is seeded fourth at 41-4.50, less than a foot off the pace set by second-seeded Daniel Belkin of Swarthmore.
Yhap and Mitchell will also run as part of the favored 4x200-meter relay squad. At last week's Keogh Invitational, they joined sophomores Austin Bittenbender and Andre Kelly for a first-place time of 1:33.31, just off the school record and enough to put the Bears in the driver's seat entering the championship meet.
The men's distance medley unit is seeded third at 11:06.44.
Senior Connor Lent will compete in the heptathlon for the Bears, his first appearance at the indoor championships.
Sunday
Yhap and Bittenbender will contest the long jump for the Bears. Yhap is seeded ninth at 20-2.25, while Bittenbender is 11th at 19-11; both are projected right around the top-nine cut line, and a double ticket to the finals could be a major boon for Ursinus.
The shot put figures to be one of the Bears' most productive events, with two entrants among the top eight seeds. Senior Adam Myers, an all-region honoree a year ago, is back to challenge two-time defending champion Logan Lewis of F&M. Myers has earned silver to Lewis' gold at each of the last two indoor championships, and his heave of 49-4.50 at last season's meet was the sixth-best in championship history. Myers' seed mark of 49-3 is just under two feet shy of Lewis' top performance of the season.
Freshman Griffin McMann is pegged eighth at 46-8.25 and will contend for a spot in the finals, which includes the top nine throwers.
Kelly is a top contender in the 400-meter dash, where he ranks fourth on the conference charts and will challenge two-time reigning champion Liam Lynch of Haverford.
Sophomores James McDaid and John DeLia and freshman Kyle Berardi are slated for the 800. McDaid will run in the second of three timed sections and is seeded 10th overall.
The Bears have a trio of entrants in the 200-meter dash. Yhap, Bittenbender, and Mitchell are all among the top 12 seeds in an event with a record held by assistant coach Evan Friend in 2016 with Franklin & Marshall.
The meet concludes with the 4x400-meter relay, where Ursinus will challenge Haverford and Johns Hopkins for gold, and the 4x800-meter relay.