Behrend Track Competes at Case Western, Banaszek has Dream Performance
The Penn State Behrend track and field squad traveled to Case Western for the Spartan Relays on Saturday, January 28. This was the second meet of the five meet indoor track season.
The
highlight of the competition came during the first event of the day,
when Staci Banaszek (Erie/Harborcreek) set a Behrend record in the
women's high jump, clearing 5' 5". In setting the record,
Banaszek qualified for the ECAC's and provisionally qualified for
the NCAA nationals. Banaszek would not stop there, just three
events later she set another record, this time in the long jump.
With a jump of 16' 11", Banaszek set another Behrend record and
qualified for the ECAC's in her second event. Banaszek closed
out her amazing performance with an event-winning 35' 9.25" jump in
the women's triple jump, out jumping the closest competition by over
a foot. This jump was good enough to qualify her for the
ECAC's in her third event of the day.
Also having a big day for the women was Leisl Soergel (Evans City/Butler), who placed first in the women's 800 meter run with a time of 2:29.44. Freshman Kim Chapman (Cranberry Township/Seneca Valley) had a couple of top 10 finishes including third-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 9.36 seconds.
On the men's side, Brad Ruffo (West Middlesex/West Middlesex) set a new Behrend record in the 5000-meter run, finishing in 16:06.57. Jon McKinney (Summerville/Union) took the men's triple jump event and qualified for the ECAC's by jumping 43' 1.5". Teammate Shane Rock (McKean/General McLane) finished a close second in the event with a jump of 42' 10.5" Also winning his event was Michael Forbes (Titusville/Titusville), who took the men's pole vault competition with 13' 3.5" jump.
The track and field team is in action again on February 4 when they travel to Mt. Union for the Mt. Union Invitational. The meet is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.
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