The men’s track team performed in its second home competition of the year, the Bucknell Team Challenge, placing first out of seven teams with a total score of 239 points on April 19. Thirty-six individuals and three relay teams tallied points for the Bison.

“Our men had a fantastic meet and accomplished almost all of our goals including winning the meet,” head coach Kevin Donner said. “We are getting better and better each week and look to peak at the league meet next week.”

The track events were led by sprinter Patryk Najbar ’14 who placed second in the 200-meter race (21.70), allowing him to qualify for IC4A. He was trailed by teammate Kamal Riley ’14 who placed third in the same event (22.16). In addition, Najbar also placed fourth in the 100-meter race (10.87). Kevin Tapper ’15 aided the team effort as well, placing fourth in the 400-meter race (48.33) while Grant Reynolds ’16 placed third in the 400-meter hurdles (54.77) and fourth in the 110-meter hurdles (15.11). Christian Lupica ’15 placed second in the 400-meter hurdles (54.04).

“The men’s team has been getting consistently better every week,” Lupica said. “We are definitely on the right track to be at our best once the league championships and post-season meets roll around which sets us up perfectly to bring home the team title.”

In the longer 800-meter race, Andrew Garcia-Garrison ’15 took a top spot (1:52.23) while Tyler Erhard ’14 took the number one spot in the 1500-meter race in 3:55.09. In addition to veteran production, the Bison underclassmen also had a productive day when Peter Murray ’16 placed third in the 3,000-meter race (8:46.36) and Ross Pirnie ’17 placed second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:27.46).

In addition to track success, the Bison also had significant finishes in the field events. The effort was led by Ray Holmes ’14 who placed first in the long jump (22-08.50) and second in the triple jump (47-05.00). In addition, Jack Fellows ’15 was runner-up in the hammer (176-06), the discus (165-06), and the shot put (50-11.00). Laddie Trees ’15 placed second in the javelin (184-02) and Nathaniel Witter ’14 also took the runner-up spot in the pole vault (15-11.00).

“We focus our training and team building for the Patriot League Outdoor Championships,” Najbar said. “The Bucknell Team Challenge was an important step to achieve that because it was a collective effort for all the men since we had over 30 individuals contribute to win the meet. We are growing individually and better yet as a team to win our fifth straight outdoor title.”

The Orange and Blue will hope to carry momentum from the Bucknell Team Challenge as they participate in the Penn Relays this weekend in Philadelphia, Pa.