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Pair of Records Fall at Kent State
February 18, 2007
Results (.pdf)
KENT, Ohio – The Allegheny College Gator track and field team broke a pair of school records in preparation for the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championships in two weeks. Freshman Josh Brannan (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) and sophomore Garret Piispanen (Fruita, Colo./Fruita Monument) broke school records in the 200- and the 800-meter races, respectively, as the team competed in the 2007 Kent State University Last Chance Invitational.
Piispanen placed seventh overall in the 800-meter run, finishing in a time of 1:56.13, nearly a half a second better than the time that Andre Perry ran in the 1993 season, one of the older indoor records in the history books at the College.
Brannan took 19th overall in the 200-meter dash, sprinting to a time of 22.76, a split second faster than the 22.83 ran by RaShawn Allen in 2004. Brannan led a group of three NCAC Championships qualifiers, as Marcus Solomon (Rockwell, Texas/Dallas Christian) and Jeremy Walker (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) ran to times of 23.52 and 23.27, respectively, to qualify for the league championships. Walker was also the lone NCAC qualifier in the 55-meter dash, sprinting to a time of 6.80.
Chris Corkins (Horseheads, N.Y./Horseheads) met the league qualifying standard in a pair of events on the day, placing 24th in the mile run in a time of 4:26.75 before he and Ben Mourer (Chicora, Pa./Karns City) placed 16th and 15th in the 3,000-meter run, respectively, Mourer running a 8:48.88 and Corkins an 8:51.00. Matt Smith (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) and Ryan Hanson (Presto, Pa./Chartiers Valley) also ran an NCAC qualifying time in the 3,000, Smith with an 8:59.02 and Hanson a 9:04.16.
Joe McMahon (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) placed fourth in the triple jump and eighth in the long, meeting NCAC qualifying marks in both. McMahon leaped to a distance of 44-11.5 in the triple jump, an event in which he is currently ranked in the top 10 in Division III, before finishing with a jump of 21-2.5 in the long jump.
Devin Cruea (Geneva, Ohio/Geneva) took eighth in the weight throw, narrowly missing a NCAA Division III provisional qualifying mark, while Frank Tupta (University Heights, Ohio/Hawken) took 14th in the shot put with a toss of 46-2.5. Pat Confer (Bradford, Pa./Bradford) was close behind in each of the events, tossing a NCAC qualifying mark of 44-0.5 in the shot put before setting a new career best of 46-9 in the weight throw.
Sophomore Matt Yurky (Homer City, Pa./Homer-Center) tied his career best in the 55-meter hurdles, sprinting to a time of 8.13, good for 11th place in the event.
The Gators take to the track in a week, as the squad will travel to Oberlin, Ohio on February 23 to compete at the Oberlin College Last Chance Meet, before making the trek to Granville, Ohio on March 2 to compete in the NCAC Championships, a two-day meet hosted by Denison University.