The men’s track and field team stood proudly among the top as the Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Championships wrapped up on Feb. 23 at Gerhard Fieldhouse. Navy captured the title for their second year in a row, but the Bison rallied on the third day to pull ahead of Army and secure a second-place finish out of the nine-team field.

The Orange and Blue showcased their talent on the final day, coming together to score in 13 of the 14 events. While several athletes contributed to the team’s success throughout the tournament, standout Ray Holmes ’14 took home first place in the long jump on Feb. 22 and the triple jump on Feb. 23, before being named First Team All-Patriot League. Holmes was also the first Bison since 2009 to be honored as Male Field Athlete of the Meet.  Following in the senior’s footsteps, Christian Lupica ’15 took first place in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.95, also being named First Team All-Patriot League.

Kevin Tapper ’15 joined Holmes atop the leaderboard in the triple jump, earning a second-place finish with a leap of 48-00.50. Alex Prieto ’14 and Scott Weismiller ’14 both placed in field events, adding to the Bison’s point total and moving them closer to Navy.

“We missed some points in some areas and picked up key points in other areas,” Tapper said. “Navy was just a little bit stronger in the end and they deserved the win.”

The Orange and Blue dominated their competition in shot put on Sunday with athletes claiming second, third, and fourth place in the event. Second Team All-Patriot Leaguer Jack Fellows ’15 led his teammates with a toss of 54-01.25, making him the program’s third best performer of all time.  Joseph Breen ’17 and Brian Monahan ’15 rounded out the scoring for the Bison.

The Bison also managed to come up big in the track portion of the tournament throughout the weekend. The Orange and Blue climbed into first place for a period of time on Feb. 23 by claiming three of the top five spots in the 500 while four other runners placed in both the 800 and the 5000. Navy capitalized on the 3000 to sneak past the Bison and back into first place. The Bison finished strong with the distance medley relay team of Tyler Erhard ’14, Dennis Logan ’14, Ryan Johnson ’16 and Andrew Garcia-Garrison ’15, securing a third-place finish in the event. The 4×400 squad of Anthony Menza ’16, Jacob Eaton-Hall ’14, Tapper, and Lupica eked out a second-place finish in the event, beating out Navy by six one-thousandths of a second, and allowing the Bison to lock down a second place finish for the entire tournament.

After two weeks of rest, the Bison will head to Boston, Mass. to compete in the IC4A Championships from Mar. 8-9.