Cerminara Leads Lions at Bill Van Horne Invitational

WHEELING, WV - John Cerminara (Williamsburg, VA/Jamestown) led the Penn State Behrend men's track and field team at the Bill Van Horne Invitational on Saturday with three top-10 finishes.

Cerminara placed eighth in the hammer throw with a distance of 36.94m.  In the shot put, he placed fifth with a distance of 13.66m.  Cerminara's best event though was the discus throw. The senior thrower set a new school record at 43.92m which was good enough for sixth place. Cerminara also qualified for ECAC's in the discus throw.

Seven more athletes followed Cerminara's lead with strong performances in field events as well.  Alex Yaegle (Russell, PA/Eisenhower) placed third in the javelin throw with a distance of 54.23m.  In the pole vault, Garrett Shaw (Saxonburg, PA/Knoch and Matthew Miller (South Park, PA/South Park) took fifth and sixth place respectively.  Shaw cleared 4.10m with Miller vaulting over 3.95m.

In the high jump, Conor MacMannis (Fredericksburg, VA/Kubeszki) built off his strong indoor season.  MacMannis jumped over 1.80m for fifth place.  Joshua Armstrong (Grove City, PA/Grove City) was not far behind MacMannis at 1.75m to tie for sixth place.  MacMannis also competed in the triple jump.  He placed seventh at 12.30m.  Kyle Whitley (Edinboro, PA/General McLane) also participated in the triple jump.  Whitley took ninth place with a distance of 11.76m.  Concluding the great performances in the field events was Geoffrey Faltot (Mercer, PA/Mercer). Faltot placed eighth at 6.24m in the long jump.

Back on the track, Denis Lydon (Plum, PA/Plum) had a record-setting day as well. Lydon took fifth in the 5000m run with a time of 15.38.07.  He also set a new school record in the event.

Cody Bupp (Warren, PA/Warren) and Billy Cvecko (Erie, PA/McDowell) had busy days. Bupp took ninth in the 400m hurdles, crossing the line at 58.89. Cvecko placed seventh in the 800m run with a time of 1:57.14.  The two then team up with Kevin Lai (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) and Matt Wygonik (Apollo, PA/Kiski) to compete in the 4x400m relay.  The team took seventh with a time of 3:29.46.

Behrend will be back in action on Saturday at the Washington and Jefferson Invitational.