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Gator Men Dominate Field at W&J
April 8, 2006
WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Allegheny College men’s track and field team scored 236.5 points today at the Washington and Jefferson Invitational, bettering the field of 10 teams by over 100 points. Host Washington and Jefferson placed second with 131 points, while Denison was third with a tally of 69.
The Allegheny men had five first place finishes, led by Vince Werner (Sheffield), who placed first in both the discus (140’7”) and the javelin (180’1”). Fellow field athletes to take home top honors on the day were Sean Laird (Monroeville/ Gateway) and Joe McMahon (Pittsburgh/ Baldwin). Laird bettered the field in the long jump with a leap of 21’2”, while McMahon’s triple jump of 44’5.25” was nearly two feet better than the second place effort.
Allegheny’s lone first place finish on the track came from Ryan Place (Meshoppen/ Elk Lake) (right). A sophomore, Place defeated his competitors in the 1,500-meter run by finishing in a time of 4:03.21. Fellow Gator Ben Mourer (Chicora/ Karns City) placed second, crossing the line in 4:06.35.
In sprint action, Aaron Rape (Zelienople/ Freedom Area) had a solid afternoon, placing second in both the 100-meter (11.64) and 200-meter dashes (22.75). At the 800-meter distance, Garrett Piispanen (Fruita, Colo./ Fruita Monument) ran a collegiate best of 1:56.96 for another Gator second place finish.
In the 110-meter high hurdles, Allegheny’s Dave Griffin (Pittsburgh/ Montour) and Matt Yurky (Homer City/ Homer Center) went 2-3, running NCAC Championship qualifying times of 16.17 and 16.49. The pair went on to have the same finish in the 400-meter hurdle race, Griffin edging out Yurky for second place by two one-hundredths of a second with a time of 59.22. Rape was not far off in fourth, running the race in a time of 59.83 seconds.
The Gators had four other second place finishers at the meet, Laird in the high jump (5’10.75”), Peter Sotherland (Kalamazoo, Mich./ Kalamazoo Central) in the pole vault (11’11.75), Frank Tupta (University Heights, Ohio/ Hawken) in the shot put, and Robert Campbell (West Newbury, Mass./ Pentucket Regional) in the javelin (165’9”).
Allegheny competes again next weekend, as members of the team will head to the Bucknell Distance Carnival on Friday, April 14 before the majority of the Blue and Gold compete at Slippery Rock on Saturday.
-GATORS-