COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's track and field team opened the outdoor season in style on Saturday, picking up three individual victories and racking up enough points to capture the team title in its home invitational.
Freshman Mike Felix led a parade of five place-winners in the javelin, and six Bears finished inside the top nine. The rookie uncorked a toss of 173 feet even to move into third in the conference. Senior Connor Lent finished third with a 167-6.00 and sophomore Austin Bittenbender was four inches shorter to take fourth; freshmen Matthew Gallagher, Riley Grourke, and Matt Thatcher finished 7-8-9.
Sophomore Craig Lauer won the steeplechase in his collegiate debut in the event, posting a strong time of 10:25.34 to win a five-man field.
Sophomore Codi Yhap took first place in the triple jump, registering a mark of 40-9.00 to elevate to second on the Centennial Conference performance list.
The 4x400-meter relay, consisting of senior Jequan Mitchell, Yhap, senior Mitchell Kelly, and sophomore Andre Kelly was runner-up in a clocking of 3:28.95. Freshman Zack Beavers, freshman Noah Kilday, sophomore John Haase, and sophomore James McDaid finished fourth in 3:38.25.
McDaid finished the 1500 in 4:13.67, good for second overall. Haase was fifth (4:20.58), and freshman Kyle Berardi (4:23.92) wound up in seventh.
Senior Adam Myers finished third with a 47-8.50 in the shot put, where freshman Griffin McMann was fifth with a 46-1.25 in his outdoor debut.
Freshman Matt Thatcher was third in the high jump with a top mark of 4-11.75, and sophomore Brody Johnson was two inches back in fourth place. The two switched places in the pole vault, where Johnson placed third at 8-6.25.
Andre Kelly was one of four Bears in the top-11 of the 400, placing third in 2:01.03. Classmate John DeLia was seventh at 2:05.01, with freshman Ian Steele (2:05.48) in ninth and fellow rookie Kilday (2:06.54) in 11th.
Sophomore Carlo Telesco finished eighth in the discus (122-2.00) and ninth in the shot put (40-4.75). Freshman George Psaradakis placed sixth in the hammer (114-11).
Yhap and Jequan Mitchell both placed in the 200-meter dash, with Yhap crossing in 23.43 to place sixth and Mitchell (23.44) just a hundredth of a second behind in eighth. Their times rank sixth and seventh, respectively, in the conference.