Jan. 30, 2009

 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Saint Joseph's men's track & field squad received excellent performances from its senior captains as Kyle Murray won the 5K and Bobby Staten set a new school record in the 60m dash at the Penn State National Invitational this weekend.

Murray raced in the 5K Invitational on Friday night, besting the field with his 14:24.92 IC4A-qualifying performance.  Teammate Will Rowland (14:45.56) was just over 20 seconds behind in ninth place.

Staten, the A-10 Performer of the Week two weekends ago, started the meet strong with a fifth-place showing in the 60m dash.  Staten qualified from the preliminaries fifth after a 6.82, improved his mark to 6.78 in the semifinals and matched that performance in the finals.  

Staten would go on to back that performance up with a 21.92 showing in the 200m dash, which earned him third.

The weekend was productive for Luke Fischer and Brendan Kearney in the 1K as both athletes qualified for the IC4As.  Fischer was second in a time of 2:29.11, while Kearney was fifth in 2:29.48.

The Hawks saw strong performances from Jared Sabre (1:05.27) in the 500m and Brian Guterl in the Mile Invitational (4:13.32) who finished 12th and 13th respectively.

SJU split its squad between the PSU National Meet and the Thomson Invitational at Delaware this weekend.  Next week, Saint Joseph's travels north to New England to compete in the Giegengack Invitational at Yale.

RESULTS (^-School Record; ^-IC4A)

60m dash Prelims
5. Bobby Staten    6.82^

60m Semifinals
4. Bobby Staten    6.78*^

60m Finals
5. Bobby Staten    6.781^

200m dash
3. Bobby Staten    21.92^

500m dash
12. Jared Sabre    1:05.27

1,000m run
2. Luke Fischer    2:29.11^
5. Brendan Kearney    2:29.48^

Mile Run Invitational
13. Brian Guterl    4:13.32^
21. Steve Young    4:20.52

5,000m Run Invitational
1. Kyle Murray    14:24.92^
9. Will Rowland    14:45.56^

4x800m Relay Invitational
12. Saint Joseph's    8:07.48
Fischer, Brooks, Birchmeier, Kearney