Bethany Invitational Results I Raleigh Relays Results

BETHANY, W.Va. (March 26) – The Vulcans won 10 events on Saturday while claiming the team title at the Bethany Invitational, while a pair of all-region honorees competed at the Raleigh Relays.

Competing in frigid and snowy conditions in West Virginia, the California University of Pennsylvania men's track & field team won the invitational with 167 points. The Vulcans have won multiple team titles for the first time since the 2017 season when they also won the Bethany Invitational. Grove City placed second in the team standings with 150 points and Glenville State finished third with 73.5 points.

Senior Matt Collins (Clearfield, Pa./Clearfield) won a pair of events on Saturday and qualified for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships in both events. He claimed the victory and set a personal record in the hammer throw with a distance of 45.29 meters (148-7.0 feet) on his second attempt. Collins also earned the win in the discus throw with a mark of 45.31 meters (148-8.0 feet), which is second-best in the league this year.

Fellow senior Avery Boea-Gisler (Pittsburgh, Pa./Serra Catholic) also captured a pair of victories while in West Virginia. In his first career entry in the event, he qualified for the league championships in the triple jump and won the event with a distance of 13.41 meters (44-0.0 feet). Boea-Gisler also posted the victory and reached conference standard in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 57.54 seconds.

The Vulcans won the 4x400-meter relay on Saturday with Boea-Gisler, junior Kristopher Lytle (Columbia, Md./Atholton), freshman Abdul Griggs (Chester, Pa./STEAM Academy at Showalter) and sophomore Noah Bernarding (Cochranton, Pa./Cochranton) posting a time of 3 minutes, 35.74 seconds.

Individually, Lytle earned the victory in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.00 seconds. He also placed second in the finals of 100-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 11.20 seconds. Bernarding won the 1,500-meter run by two-hundredths of a second with a time of 4:08.13.

Junior Michael Berdar (Centerville, Pa./Beth-Center) qualified for the PSAC Championships in the high jump by winning the event with a height of 1.85 meters (6-0.75 feet). He also won the long jump in his first career entry in the event after recording a distance of 6.36 meters (20-10.5 feet) on his fifth attempt.

Senior John Franklin, Jr. (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler) registered the fastest time in both the preliminaries and finals of the 110-meter hurdles at Bethany. He trimmed two-hundredths of a second off his season-best time in the finals, winning the race with a time of 15.90 seconds.

Cal U featured four of the top-five finishers in the hammer throw on Saturday, including the victory by Collins. Senior Sam Rothstein (Sykesville, Md./Century) shattered his personal best with a heave of 41.14 meters (135-0.0 feet) on his first attempt. The Vulcans also placed four entries in the top five of the 200 meters with the win by Lytle. Freshman Aaron McPherson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brentwood) finished second in the event with a time of 23.27 seconds and also placed third in the finals of the 100 meters with a time of 11.21 seconds.

Freshman Ian Zimmerman (Bedford, Pa./Northern Bedford County) finished behind only Bernarding in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:08.15. Junior Mason Jobe (Greensburg, Pa./Greensburg Salem) also placed fourth in the event after rounding the track in 4:10.64.

In North Carolina, senior Jalen Cloud (Leechburg, Pa./Kiski) reached the NCAA provisional mark in the triple jump at the Raleigh Relays. He finished eighth overall with a mark of 14.73 meters (48-4.0 feet) while competing in a field of NCAA Division I entries. Freshman Logan Pfister (Fishertown, Pa./Chestnut Ridge) cleared a height of 1.90 meters (6-2.75 feet) in the high jump while at Raleigh.

The Vulcans return to action on Saturday, April 2, when they compete at the Dave Labor Invitational hosted by Slippery Rock.