By Colin Fields
Contributing Writer
The Bison men’s track team shined at three different venues this past weekend. The men’s 4×400-meter relay team finished fourth at the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in New York. Closer to home was the Penn State Invitational, where the Orange and Blue took first in both the distance medley and 1,000 meter run. In this year’s Bison Open at Gerhard Fieldhouse, the Bison also claimed first in the heptathalon and shot-put.
At Madison Square Garden, Jacob Eaton-Hall ’14, Jordan Donaldson ’12, John Picardo ’11 and Robert Arent ’12 clocked in a time of 3:25 in the 4×400 relay. The quartet was the first relay team to compete for the Bison at the famed Millrose games in 21 years.
Evan Novakowski ’11 ran a 2:28 1000-meter run at Penn State for a first-place finish at the invitational. Christopher Boyd ’11, Dennis Logan ’14, Clayton Smith ’11 and Chris Sacks ’14 were victorious in the distance medley. The squad clocked in a time of 9:55, which was not only good enough for the victory but also placed them third in school history behind the 1979 team, which holds the top two spots.
On campus, Quinten Marcott ’13 had a huge weekend for the Bison in shot-put. Marcott threw 15.71 meters, which gave him first place and a personal record. The sophomore competed at both the Bison Open and the Penn State Invitational. Marcott threw 15.09 meters at Penn State on the second day and currently sits third in Bison history for shot-put.
“The consistency through my three throws on Saturday is a great sign and adding that to my PR [personal record] Friday has me feeling very confident about the league meet coming up,” Marcott said.
At Gerhard Fieldhouse, Andrew Powell ’12 entered day two of the heptathalon in second place but rallied on the second day to take first.
“I was a little disappointed with my height in high jump, but I knew I could make up the points in the hurdles, which is usually a good event for me,” Powell said. “Going into day two I wasn’t really focused on winning or losing but just performing my best and seeing where I ended up.”
Powell went on to take first in both the long jump and 60-meter hurdles. He compiled enough points to win the heptathalon and move into third place in school history for that event.
This performance gives the Bison confidence going into the Patriot League Championships, which are just a few weeks away. The next meet for the Bison is on Feb. 5 when the team competes at Yale University in the Giegengack Invitational.
“I’m excited to see how my teammates do and am confident that together all of us can put on an impressive performance at Leagues,” Marcott said. “We all have our sights set on winning that championship, and we will be doing everything necessary over the next few weeks to ensure that we do.”