Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
IC4A Championships
Bucknell's Joseph, Holmes Open IC4A Track Championships with All-East Honors
3/2/2013 7:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
March 2, 2013
BOSTON - In just its first day of competition at the IC4A Championships, already Bucknell men's track and field has two All-East winners, an event champion, two school records and four more program top-10 marks. Leonard Joseph was the gold medalist in the weight throw and Christian Lupica had a hand in both school records on Saturday afternoon in Boston.
Joseph became the second Bison in as many years to win the weight throw at the IC4A Championships. The senior finished with a mark of 63-5 on Saturday morning, less than three inches better than the second-place thrower from UMBC.
Joseph, who joins Tom Barr as the program's only two weight throw champions at the meet after Barr won last winter, has now been named All-East in the event in each of his last two seasons. Joseph placed fourth a year ago.
Ray Holmes claimed Bucknell's second All-East citation with a runner-up finish in the triple jump. The junior registered his best-ever distance, clearing 49-5 ¾. It was Holmes' first-ever jump at better than 49 feet and ranks him third all-time at Bucknell.
Although not placing has highly in his various races, Lupica posted some of the best times in program history. The sophomore started off by breaking his own school record in the 200-meter prelims, finishing in 21.55 seconds. That was three-hundredths of a second faster than his previous standard.
Lupica later anchored the 4x400 relay to another school record of 3:14.02. Along with Kevin Tapper, Anthony Menza and Jacob Eaton Hall, the relay became the first in program history to run a sub-3:15 race. They finished seventh in the prelims and advanced to tomorrow's final.
Among some of the other top times was Patryk Najbar's 200-meter finish. Najbar crossed the line in 22.04, giving him the seventh-fastest finish at Bucknell. Neither he nor Lupica will advance to the final, however.
Before leading off the record-breaking 4x400 relay, Tapper was 11th in the 400-meter prelims with a time of 48.21. It was the sophomore's first career race at under 49 seconds and ranks fourth all-time at Bucknell. The distance medley relay of Tyler Erhard, Ryan Johnson, Chris Oesterlin and Andrew Garcia-Garrison finished in a time of 9:59.78, giving them the No. 8 mark on the program ledger.
After just five scored events, Bucknell is tied for second in the team standings. Connecticut leads the field with 32 points, while the Bison and Rhode Island each have 18. Cornell (16.5) and Liberty (12.5) round out the top five in a field where 24 schools have tallied points so far.
The IC4A Championships conclude tomorrow. Competition gets underway at 9:30 a.m.
BUCKNELL RESULTS
Weight Throw:
1. Leonard Joseph - 63-5
21. Jack Fellows - 54-10
Triple Jump:
2. Ray Holmes - 49-5 ¾
10. Alex Prieto - 46-10 ¾
High Jump:
T13. Jason Brown - 6-7
60m Prelims:
18. Jacob Eaton Hall - 7.01
21. Justin Hicks - 7.02
200m Prelims:
13. Christian Lupica - 21.55
32. Patryk Najbar - 22.04
400m Prelims:
11. Kevin Tapper - 48.21
1,000m Prelims:
22. Brian Charland - 2:30.40
23. Dustin Horning - 2:31.45
5,000m:
12. Robert Yamnicky - 14:29.94
24. John Dugan - 14:53.75
Distance Medley Relay Prelims:
10. Bucknell - 9:59.75 (Tyler Erhard, Ryan Johnson, Chris Oesterlin, Andrew Garcia-Garrison)
4x800 Prelims:
10. Bucknell - 7:36.26 (Alex Jagelsky, Dennis Logan, Zachary Moon, John Westwood)
4x400 Prelims:
7. Bucknell - 3:14.02 (Kevin Tapper, Anthony Menza, Jacob Eaton Hall, Christian Lupica)
