Black Knights Take First at Penn 8-Team Select

Saturday, January 20

Staten Island, NY

TBA

Army West Point

Penn 8-Team Select

Black Knights Take First at Penn 8-Team Select

January 20, 2018 | Men's Track and Field

WEST POINT, NY – The Army West Point men's track and field took first place at the Penn 8-Team Select Saturday evening.

The Penn 8-Team Select was hosted by the University of Pennsylvania at the Ocean Breeze Track in Staten Island, N.Y. The team faced competition from Manhattan, the men of Rutgers, Saint Joseph's, Stony Brook, Villanova and Wagner.

COACH'S QUOTES:
"Our men were pretty good today," said head coach Mike Smith. "We tried to field a competitive team in all of the events and we did just enough to come away with the team win. Some of our points came from the usual suspects (Keagan Smith, Kenneth Brinson, and Lee Bares) but we also had some breakthrough performances from some guys that have not always been in the spotlight."

"I thought our men's throwers and short sprinters did a nice job today. Kenneth led us in the weight throw which we have come to expect but Wyatt and Jacob were nice surprises in the 4th and 6th places. Those two young guys are still learning the event so there is even more room for them to improve."

"The sprint men are our most veteran group and they scored a lot of points in the 60m. We had four guys in that eight-man final and that really helped our overall point total. Our distance kids were also pretty good today. We went 1-2 in the 800 and had some nice runs in the mile and 3k as well."

"Going into the meet I thought maybe that Penn or Rutgers would be the favorites to win the team title with us maybe a close third, but our young guys competed at a higher level than they have all season and that was the difference."

"We still have some room for improvement and I look for us to put together a few more pieces as we get ready for the championship meets. We now have two consecutive weeks of really good effort. The guys are fighting for wins and points. That will pay off down the road."

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND MEET NOTES

Track Events

Ross Puritty took third in the 60-meter hurdle, clocking in at 8.47 seconds.
Army took four of the top seven spots in the 60-meter dash. Ben Sims took second with a time of 6.85. Tyler Davis (6.91) took third, Andre Vaughn (7.02) took fourth, and Jaylin Davis (7.07) took seventh.
Keagan Smith took first in the one mile with a time of 4:09.59. Roman Ollar took seventh with a time of 4:13.71, with Mikey Singer close behind in eighth with a time of 4:17.50.
In the 400-meter dash, Tyrell Maddox took third with a time of 48.66.
Army took the top two spots in the 800-meter with Ben Boswell (1:54.36) taking first and Jackson Sullivan (1:54.52) in second.
Army took two of the top six spots in the 200-meter dash. Kedrin Jefferson took third with a time of 22.08 and Vaughn took sixth with a time of 22.33.
John Valeri claimed eighth in the 3000 with a time of 8:29.32.
In the 4x400 Boswell, Maddox, Nick Causey, and Alex Combs took fifth place with a time of 3:22.28.

Field Events

Tyrese Bender claimed sixth place in the long jump with a distance of 6.42m.
Josh Heiman took third in the triple jump, clearing a distance of 13.30m.
Army took three of the top five spots in the weight throw. Kenneth Brinson took first, throwing for a distance of 18.96m. Wyatt Doughty (17.74m) took fourth, while Jacob Stauffer (17.34m) took fifth.
Bernard Jenkins took sixth in the high jump, clearing a height of 1.95m.
Lee Bares took second in the pole vault with a height of 5.10m and Joe Popek took fifth with a height of 4.60m.
Army took two of the top six spots in the shot put. Michael Renard took third with a distance of 15.70m, and Geoff Kirk took sixth with a distance of 15.54m.

UP NEXT
The team returns to action on Jan.26 at the Penn State National Invitational at University Park, Pa.

For more information on Army West Point men's track and field, visit GoArmyWestPoint.com and follow @ArmyWP_TrackXC on Twitter