Gator Men Look for a Four-Peat at NCAC’s

Mar 2, 2006

MEADVILLE, Pa. – After a nine-year dry spell between NCAC Championships, the men’s track and field team won the conference title in 2003, and has yet to let go of it, winning in 2004 and 2005. This season the Gators look to tie the NCAC record for consecutive championships with Ohio Wesleyan, the team whose streak they ended in 2003. A victory would also tie OWU’s overall record of indoor conference titles.

“Anytime that you are a defending champion you have a target on your back and everyone is looking to knock you off,” said Allegheny head track and field coach Bill Ross. “It depends on how you go into the meet. The way we approach it is that we can certainly go in tippy-toeing, hoping not to lose. Or we can go in there with everything that you have with all guns blazing, trying to win. If we take a risk and fail and we don’t win, then fine, at least we tried.”

The Gators, who are ranked 15th in the latest MF Power Ranking Poll, are looking for depth to carry them to their fourth consecutive conference championship. “In the past, our distance program has been really strong, and we would score four or five people in the distance events, and that really helped boost the point total,” noted Ross. “This year, it is definitely nice to have depth in every event. That balanced attack is what will help you win the conference.”

Depth is the key to the Gator success, as they have multiple possible scorers in every event. Allegheny has the top three seeded athletes in the shot put, as Frank Tupta (University Heights, Ohio/Hawken), Pat Confer (Bradford) and Kitt Tuttle (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams) have throws of 48-1.75, 47-0.75, and 45-7.0, respectively, with the top two throws nearly a foot and a half further than the nearest competitor.

In the 3,000-meter run, the Gators take up five of the top six places, as the team has the first, second, third, fifth and sixth seeded runner in the event. Ryan Place (Meshoppen/Elk Lake) leads the field with a time of 8:28.85, while Ben Mourer (Chicora/Karns City) and Chris Corkins (Horseheads, N.Y.) are close behind with times of 8:41.81 and 8:51.40, respectively. Chris Carrier (Lyndhurst, Ohio/Charles F. Brush) and Matt Smith (Sayville, N.Y.) round out the remaining six in the event.

The Gator domination of the distance events also spreads down to the mile and 5,000-meter runs, as the team has three of the top five in both of the races. In the 5,000, the Gators had five of the top seven times in the league during the year, but due to filling other events, only three are competing in the 3.1-mile race. Place is the top seed with a time of 15:04.56, while Corkins and Mourer round out the three for the Gators with seed times of 15:28.90 and 15:29.02, each.

In the mile, Place is seeded second, with Mourer seeded third and Matt Hoy (Moon Township/Moon) seeded fifth. Place’s time of 4:21.90 during the year is just .41 away from the top seed, as Mourer and Hoy have times of 4:23.70 and 4:27.30 heading into the league championships.

In the high jump, Allegheny has four people within the top seven places, including leader Justin Schwab (Kill Buck, N.Y./Salamanca), who has cleared 6-4, while Sean Laird (Monroeville/Gateway) is tied for second having cleared 6-2. Jeff Vangura (Murrysville/Franklin Regional) and Jacob Hasson (Franklin/Franklin Area) have each cleared 6-0 and are tied for fifth heading into the competition.

In the pole vault, sophomore Conrad Rapp (Medway, Mass./Worchester Academy) leads the field by a foot, having cleared 15-0.25, while second place has cleared 14-0.0. Erich Wittmer (Sewickley/Sewickley Academy) and Peter Sotherland (Kalamazoo, Mich./Kalamazoo Central) are seeded fifth and sixth, respectively, having cleared 13-11.25 and 13-6.25, each.

The 200-meter dash has three Gators within the scoring eight, as Aaron Rape (Zelienople/Freedom Area) and Marcus Solomon (Rockwell, Texas/Dallas Christian) are seeded third and fourth, respectively, and Jeremy Walker (Greensburg/Hempfield) is seeded in a tie for seventh.

Rape leads the competitors in the 400-meter dash, with a time of 50.35, while Troy Moles (Royersford/The Hill School) is seeded fifth with a time of 52.67.

Garrett Piispanen (Fruita, Colo./Fruita Monument) is currently second in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:58.54, while teammate Craig Ball (Pittsburgh/Penn Hills) is sixth overall with a time of 2:00.46.

Laird and Joe McMahon (Pittsburgh/Baldwin) team up to pace the fields in the long and triple jumps, as Laird is seeded second and McMahon sixth in the long jump. McMahon is seeded second in the triple, while Laird is fifth. Jamar Galbreath (Willingboro, N.J./Mercersburg Academy) and Matt Yurky (Homer City/Homer Center) are looking to sneak into a scoring place, as Galbreath is seeded eighth in the long jump and Yurky ninth in the triple jump.

Yurky leads the Gator hurdlers with a sixth seed, after a time of 8.24, while Dave Griffin (Pittsburgh/Montour) is seeded eighth with a time of 8.32. In the other short sprint event, the 55-meter dash, the Gators have three runners in the top nine. Chaz Moore-Seymore (Buffalo, N.Y./St. Francis) leads the Gator sprinters with a time of 6.78, in a tie for the sixth seed, while Walker and Solomon are seeded eighth and in a tie for ninth, with times of 6.80 and 6.82, respectively.

The event starts at 2:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon at Denison University, and will conclude at approximately 5:45 p.m. on Saturday with an awards ceremony.

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