Brandywine Finishes Fourth At USCAA Invitational; Rohl And Young Win Individual Titles
ALBANY, N.Y. – The Penn State Brandywine track and field team placed fourth at the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Invitational, highlighted by individual, first-place finishes from Max Rohl (Horseheads, N.Y./Horseheads) and Braden Young (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) Saturday afternoon at the University of Albany.
Young captured the discus title, while earning top-two finishes in three events overall, and Rohl was the top competitor in the shot put.
In the discus, Young produced a long throw of 39.70 meters, a new Brandywine record, to take first in a field of 14 competitors. He was also second in the hammer throw (30.22 meters), breaking another team benchmark in the process, and finished behind Rohl in the shot put with a heave of 13.10 meters.
Rohl edged Young by tossing the shot put 13.18 meters, fourth-longest in team history. He also collected a runner-up showing in the discus by tallying the fifth-best throw in the Lions' record books at 34.03 meters.
Young and Rohl's feats in the throws, combined with 10 additional top-five individual finishes helped Brandywine total 99 points as a team. The Lions placed fourth in a field of 12 squads and tallied the highest point total among three PSUAC campuses.
Christian Dzema (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) ran to a pair of top-five showings in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races. Dzema was the second runner to cross the finish line at 10,000 meters (39:53.99) with the third-fastest time in Brandywine's record books, while earning fifth at 5,000 meters (19:01.50).
Claiming a third-place finish was Ethan Harper (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone), who ran to a time of 12:46.20 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Christian Zita (Freehold, N.J./Colts Neck) also earned a bronze medal, placing third during the 100-meter hurdles (22.09). Just behind Zita were Jonah Coit (Jim Thorpe, Pa./Jim Thorpe), who took fourth in a time of 22.11, and Het Shah (Malvern, Pa./Great Valley), who took fifth (29.55).
Coit added a fourth-place showing in the 400-meters hurdles (1:08.73), while Zita (1:09.01) recorded his second top-five finish in the same event.
Josh Land (Boerne, Texas/Samuel V. Champion) sped to the second-fastest time in team history at 800 meters, crossing the line in fifth place (2:05.72).
Jalin Haskins (Philadelphia, Pa.) posted the Lions' top time in the 100-meter dash (11.89), while Shah ran to a mark of 13.25 seconds. Haskins also took 18th at 200 meters (25.11), while Nick Gaither (Boerne, Texas/Samuel V. Champion) placed ninth in 24.31 seconds.
The 4x400 relay team of Coit, Gaither, Harper and Land recorded the final top-five ranking with a fourth-place finish in a time of 3:48.0. The Lions' 4x100 relay squad comprised of Coit, Harper, Haskins and Gaither ran to sixth in 47.02 seconds.
Rounding out Brandywine's field competitors, Zita posted a long jump of 5.17 meters, while also competing in the triple jump with Coit and Angel Betancourt (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk). Zita registered a long mark of 10.67 meters, while Betancourt leaped 9.49 meters and Coit jumped 9.33 meters.
