The men’s track and field team competed in both the Penn State National Invitational and the 17th annual Bison Open and Multi on Jan. 30-31, finding success in both meets. The Bison broke multiple program records at the Penn State competition, with Andrew Garcia-Garrison ’15 playing a role in both new record times. Garcia-Garrison broke the individual mile record that had been standing since 1989 and was also a member of the distance medley relay team that broke the 1979 record.

On the first day of competition at Penn State, the veteran distance medley-relay team of John Westwood ’16, Kevin Tapper ’15, Alex Jagelsky ’15, and Garcia-Garrison blew the old record away with a gap of almost seven seconds from the previous record. The final relay time clocked in at 9:46.39, earning them fourth place in the day’s race.  

“We all ran what was asked of us and luckily it was good enough for a record-breaking performance. Our coach and team were happy, and it was nice to take down a record that dated back all the way to the 70s,” Garcia-Garrison said.

Other notable performances from the meet included Jack Fellows ’15 in the weight throw, taking sixth in a field of 27, and Christian Lupica ’15, who placed seventh in the 60-meter hurdles. Olu Shoyoye ’16 and Brian Monahan ’15 followed Fellows in the weight throw, placing eighth and 11th respectively.

The team continued competition at University Park the following day, with Garcia-Garrison breaking yet another long standing record in the mile with a time of 4:02.35. Jacob Ashkettle ’17, Anthony Menza ’16, Lupica, Tapper, and Westwood also contributed to Bison success with IC4A qualifying times in their respective events. Monahan placed ninth out of 22 in the shot put to place him sixth in the program’s records.

At the Bison Open and Multi, Ben Burgess ’16 placed first in the heptathlon. After a strong performance on the first day, Burgess had first-place finishes in the 60-meter dash, the long jump, and the shot put, and a second place finish in the high jump. The Orange and Blue found success the second day as well, with Fellows (shot put and weight throw),  Shoyoye (weight throw), Mark Stafurik ’16 (weight throw), Elijah Kay ’17 (high jump), and Adam Karl ’18 (high jump) placing with top finishes in their respective events.

The Bison will be back in action this weekend, competing at both Youngstown State (Ohio) and Notre Dame (Ind.) on Feb. 6-7.