Five First-Place Finishes Highlight Victory for Red Raiders at PSAC East Challenge
Jan. 11, 2008
KUTZTOWN, Pa. - The Shippensburg men’s indoor track and field team won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East Challenge for the fourth consecutive year late Friday night. The Red Raiders bested the six Eastern Division schools with a total of 219.5 points, while host-school Kutztown took second place with a total of 131 points.
Shippensburg earned its first team victory of the season on the strength of 27 top-five and 44 top-ten finishes by the Red Raiders. Both the men’s and the women’s teams had the identical amount of 27 top-five finishers en route to their respective victories.
Four Red Raiders earned top individual finishes while one relay team also delivered a first-place finish to give Shippensburg a total of five for the evening.
One of the two most prolific Red Raiders of the evening was also one of the individual champions. Junior Sean Cohick (Shippensburg/Big Spring) won the long jump for the Red Raiders with a leap of 23 feet and also placed fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.11 seconds.
Cohick and junior Stephen Gualberti (Springfield/Springfield) were the only Red Raiders to total three individual top-ten finishes. Gualberti’s best effort was a third-place finish in the high jump.
In the 400-meter dash, junior Joe Wagner (Biglerville/Biglerville) won the event with a hasty effort completed in 51.50 seconds. Wagner’s effort is just two seconds shy of the school record set by Kevin Deemer in 1993.
Junior Dillon Gracey (Mercersburg/James Buchanan) highlighted another strong performance for the Red Raiders in the 3,000-meter run, winning the event in 9:05.67. Freshman Sean Stetler (Warrington/Central Bucks South) placed second in 9:14.46, while fellow freshman Jake Sitler (Wrightsville/York Catholic) took home fourth place in the event.
Not only did Shippensburg continue its success in jump events, but red-shirt freshman Leander Toney (Lancaster/J.P. McCaskey) also maintained his knack for first-place finishes. Toney won the high jump for the second consecutive tournament while also earning a top-ten finish in the triple jump.
Sophomore Allen Lehman (Greencastle/Greencastle) earned second place in the triple jump and fourth place in the long jump, while sophomore Luke Hershey (Chambersburg/Chambersburg) and red-shirt freshman Jesse Brown (Philadelphia/Girard College) earned third place in the triple and high jumps respectively.
Senior Jamal James (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin) recorded two second-place finishes with strong showings in the 55 and 200-meter dashes. Junior James Wilson (Ephrata/Ephrata) also earned top-five finishes in each of the two events.
In mid-distance and distance events, freshman Matt Gelety (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) recorded a strong showing with a second-place finish in the 1-mile run, while sophomore Rob Kuliczkowski (Philadelphia/Father Judge) finished third in the 800-meter event with a time of 2:01.70.
In the distance medley relay, the ‘A’ team of Gracey, freshman Brandon Boyer (Middletown, Md./Middletown), Kuliczkowski and sophomore Jeremy Brady (Heidelberg AFB/Heidelberg American) took home first place with a time of 10:57.41. The ‘B’ team finished second overall with a time of 10:59.66.
Shippensburg received consistent performances in the throwing events Friday night, as junior Shaun Minnich (Churchville/Council Rock South) notched a second-place shot put and a third-place weight throw. Freshman Steve D’Arcy (Hanover, N.J./East Hanover) finished fourth in the shot put, while freshman Tappah Dinnall (Chambersburg/Chambersburg) placed fifth in the shot put.
In the pentathlon, sophomore Don Graybill (Ephrata/Cocalico) had an impressive performance and earned second place. Freshman Andrew Campolongo (State College/State College) finished third in the pole vault with a vault of 14 feet.
Shippensburg will return to action on Saturday, January 19 when it travels to Bucknell University to compete in the Bucknell Heptagonal. Competition is set to begin at 6:45 p.m.
- Red Raider Track and Field -
