COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's track and field team opened the 2017 outdoor season with its home invitational on Saturday afternoon, competing late into the night against a sizeable field of athletes from around the region.
Freshman James McDaid produced one of the day's highlights, capturing first place with a clocking of 2:01.55 in a dramatic finish to the 800-meter run. In his second race of the afternoon, McDaid passed nine competitors over the final 300 meters to take the top spot.
Junior Adam Myers turned in a number of strong performances in the throwing events. Myers, the Centennial Conference indoor silver medalist in the shot put, registered a 44-4.25 to place sixth in that event. He was fifth in the discus (129-10) and seventh in the javelin (143-10).
Freshman Cole Connelly (127-4) and sophomore Connor Lent (126-11) each met CC qualifying standards in the javelin.
Freshman Carlo Telesco finished seventh in the discus (126-9) and 10th in the shot put (40-2.25).
Sophomore Adam Friend was seventh in the pole vault with a collegiate best of 11-5.75, enough to qualify for the conference championship.
Junior Joseph Iuliucci recorded a new collegiate best – indoor or outdoor – of 15:55.20 to finish second in the 5000-meter run; he did it despite running eight laps with his shoe untied. Freshman Logan Mazullo ran a personal-best 16:22.50, and sophomore Andrew Voyack was just off a P.R. at 16:40.53.
Freshman Craig Lauer led a large Ursinus contingent in the 1500-meter run with a 4:19.84 that landed him in 12th. Sophomore Jonny Cope notched a career-best 4:19.87 in 13th, and McDaid was 17th in 4:22.18. Sophomores Josef Klausner (4:26.26) and Zach Sibson (4:38.78) also put up personal bests, along with the other three Ursinus entrants.
Junior Mitchell Kelly earned a third-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles, crossing the line in 59.21.
Freshman Codi Yhap placed eighth in the 400-meter dash (51.53), where senior Patrick Mekongo was 16th (52.60). Yhap (23.38) and Mekongo (24.10) each joined freshman Brody Johnson (24.27) in qualifying for the CC outdoor championship in the 200.
The track and field teams continue their outdoor campaigns at Widener's Danny Curran Invitational, which takes place Friday and Saturday.
