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Gator Invite Turns into Highlight Reel
May 11, 2007
MEADVILLE, Pa. – For about three decades, the Allegheny College tack and field facility went without any intercollegiate competitions because of the lack of suitable competing conditions. That all took a drastic change on Thursday, May 10, as the school hosted the inaugural Gator Invitational at the newly renovated Frank B. Fuhrer Field, highlighted by an Olympic Trials qualifying effort in the pole vault, an exciting attempt at a sub-4:00 mile, and a slew of national qualifying performances.
Arguably the highlight of the meet was the return of 2003 Allegheny graduate, Jeremy Scott, who was a two-time national champion in the pole vault as a Gator. While the rest of the collegiate competitors fizzled out when the bar went to 16 feet, Scott began his warm-up runs at over 17, easily clearing the height and moving past 18. Coming into the meet with a personal best of 18 feet, 8.25 inches, he made it past 18 feet, 0.5 inches in one try. Scott then took a shot at 18-6.75, clearing the bar on his third and final try. Already meeting the Olympic Trials provisional qualifying standard, the Gator alum went for the automatic mark and a personal best by raising the bar up to 18-9.5. Once again, Scott went the distance with three attempts, but he came up just short as he barely grazed the bar each time.
Shortly after Scott dazzled the audience with his aerial show, the men’s invite mile took place, featuring some the best runners in the nation. Gunning for the elusive sub-4:00 mile, 13 competitors comprised of former national champions and Olympic qualifiers filled the lanes. The racers started out right on pace after the first lap, with Ryan Kleimenhagen leading the pack early on. Kleimenhagen, a four-time national champion from Wisconsin-Platteville, was passed in the third lap by Ofer Barniv, a former Kent State University standout. Barniv kept trucking along with the ardent support of the crowd, but narrowly missed his mark, falling three seconds short. He still managed an impressive time of 4:03.58, edging Allegheny track and field assistant coach Joe Eby, who achieved a personal best time of 4:05.29.
The Gators landed impressive marks of their own in their respective events, including a pair of school records in the throwing pit. Senior Devin Cruea (Geneva, Ohio/Geneva), shattered the Allegheny record in the discus with a heave of 159 feet, 10 inches, also bettering the NCAA Division III provisional qualifying standard. Not to be outdone was Pat Confer (Bradford, Pa./Bradford), who grabbed first-place honors in the hammer throw with a school-record toss of 167 feet, 8 inches.
Allegheny’s third national qualifying mark came from senior Ben Mourer (Chicora, Pa./Karns City), who achieved the NCAA Division III provisional qualifying standard in the 5,000 meters. He completed the 3.1-mile race in 14:47.29, sliding in just below the national “B-cut” and finishing fifth overall.
Competing against some of the best competition from around the region, several other members of Allegheny’s team put up career and season bests, including freshman Josh Brannan (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe). Brannon picked up a pair of runner-up finishes in the 100 and 200 meters, posting season-best times of 11.03 and 22.39, respectively.
Senior Marco Dozzi (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) had the unenviable task of competing against two former Gator standout long-distance runners in the 10,000 meters as he came in behind Kevin Pool and Dan Princic. Pool led the pack at 31:06.00 with Princic (31:15.85) and Dozzi (31:47.30) in tow.
Sophomore Joe McMahon (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) landed a pair of runner-up showings in the jumping events, He first went for a distance of 21 feet, 5.5 inches in the long jump before notching a personal best in the triple jump with a leap of 45-10.75.
Rounding out the top Allegheny finishers was Garret Piispanen (Fruita, Colo./Fruita Monument) with a six-place effort in the 800 meters (1:55.54), Frank Tupta (University Heights, Ohio/Hawken) with a fourth-place throw of 48 feet in the shot put, and the 4x100-meter relay team of Jeremy Walker (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield), Brannan, Chas Moore-Seymore (Buffalo, N.Y./St. Francis), and Marcus Solomon (Rockwell, Texas/Dallas Christian) which ran a season-best 42.90 for second.