The men’s track and field team competed at two different meets on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. Some took part in the Penn State National Invitational while the rest defended home turf at the Bison Open in Gerhard Fieldhouse. A number of Bison had spectacular performances in the Penn State Invitational, including Christian Lupica ’15, who broke his own school record in the 60 meter hurdles for the third time this season.

“Over the past two weeks we have seen a lot of PRs for most of the team and I think this bodes very well being two weeks out of the Patriotic League meet. It looks like it will be another tough battle with Navy at the league meet this year,” Grant Reynolds ’16 said.

Several Bison qualified for the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (IC4A) Championships due to their performances at the Penn State Invitational. The IC4A is a prestigious annual competition that will be held from March 7-9 at Boston University this year. After breaking the school record in the hurdles last week, Lupica also qualified for the IC4As with an impressive 200 meter dash in 21.66. Kevin Tapper ’15 qualified for the IC4As with his time of 1:05.47 in the 500 meter run, while John Westwood ’16 and Alex Jagelsky ’15 qualified for the competition with outstanding times in the 1000-meter run.

The Orange and Blue also qualified for the 4×400 meter relay event at the IC4As, featuring Anthony Menza ’16, Jacob Eaton-Hall ’14, Dennis Logan ’14, and Ryan Johnson ’16. Additionally, Andrew Garcia-Garrison ’15 qualified with a 4:12.81 mile run, and Ray Holmes ’14 qualified for the triple jump.

Back in Lewisburg, the Bison had some strong production as well. Jack Fellows ’15 won the weight throw and beat his personal-best distance. Reynolds placed second in the 60 meter hurdles and earned himself a spot in the IC4As. The distance medley relay team of Ross Pirnie ’17, Jordan Jackson ’17, Cole Conte ’16, and Eric Balaban ’14 also qualified for the competition in March.

The Orange and Blue hope to keep the good times running this weekend when the team will once again split up. Some will head to the Akron Invitational and the remainder will journey to the Youngstown State Invitational. Both events take place in Ohio today and tomorrow.