Men’s Track and Field Places Second, 4x100 Team Shines

Saturday, May 7

Lewisburg, PA

All Day

Army West Point

Patriot League Championships

Men’s Track and Field Places Second, 4x100 Team Shines

May 07, 2016 | Men's Track and Field

Final Results

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Army West Point men's track and field team finished a successful weekend at the Patriot League Outdoor Track and Field Championships where the Black Knights finished second among nine teams. Army totaled 160 points trailing only Navy who scored 263 points. Bucknell hosted the championships.

The Cadets 4x100 Meter Relay team put together a brilliant run. The quartet of junior Jose Santana, freshmen Ben Sims and Kevin Dyer, and sophomore Tyler Davis finished in 40.08 seconds, marks that are Academy, facility, and meet records.

"Each leg ran well and our handoffs were very good," said Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mike Smith. "We knew we were good enough to run 40 seconds flat and we did just that today. It is something we have worked hard at since February and I was very happy for the guys that they were able to execute the race the way they did."

Davis and Santana would go on to contribute to the 4x400 Meter Relay team's second-place finish. They joined freshman Marcus Denham and senior Stevyn Spees to run a 3:14.26, the fastest-time by an Army foursome this year.

Santana and Sims would each place in the top three in individual events. Santana completed the 400 Meter Dash in 47.77 to claim third place while Sims finished second in the 100 Meter Dash with a time of 10.67.

"Ben Sims was very impressive in the sprints today," stated Smith. "He may be a little disappointed in not winning the 100 Meter Dash but he had a good weekend and will be on a lot of podiums in the future."

Multiple Army runners were featured in the 400 Meter Hurdles. Three Black Knights placed in the top four with senior Marcus Phillips leading everybody with a career-best 53.35 second finish. Junior Nick Beavers (54.08) and sophomore Kevin Hall (54.89) placed third and fourth, respectively. For Beavers, it was also a personal-best.

"The 400 Meter Hurdles was a big event for us today," said Smith. "The 21 points we scored in that event really solidified our hold on second place and put a lot of pressure on Boston University."

The Black Knights added two top five finishes in the 1,500 Meter Run. Junior Trevor Touchton (3:46.23) and freshman Zach Brehm (3:49.17) finished third and fifth, respectively. For Brehm, it was a new personal-record by over three seconds.

Touchton continued to run well with his best run to date in the 800 Meter Run. His time of 1:49.74 bested his former top mark by one and a half seconds and was narrowly good enough for first as he crossed the finish line .33 seconds behind Boston University's Ethan Homan.

Senior Taylor Andrews earned a podium spot with a third place finish in the 110 Meter Hurdles. His run of 14.28 seconds was a hundredth of a second off his personal-best and three hundredths from first place.

Junior Jacob Fong reached a new personal-best in the 3,000 Meter Steeplechase. He finished the race in 9:12.87 which placed him fifth in the group of 14.

In the field events, sophomore Dawson Hillis placed third in the Discus Throw (49.19 meters) and sixth in the Shot Put (15.34 meters). Freshman Jeff Giannettino finished second in the High Jump, clearing 2.05 meters to earn silver.

For up-to-date information on Army track and field visit GoArmyWestPoint.com or follow @ArmyWP_TrackXC on Twitter.