By Todd Kress

The Kutztown University men’s track and field team had a busy week that saw various Golden Bears compete in three different events.

Beginning with the Mondschein Multi last Thursday and Friday at Kutztown’s University Field, a total of five different Golden Bears participated in the event, including two men: Tyler Matunis and Lucas Kristofits.

Matunis placed sixth in the decathlon with 5,840 total points, a career-best for the sophomore. Kristofits wasn’t far behind, finishing in 11th place with a career-high 5,260 points.

The next day, a number of Golden Bears took part in both the Rider Invite at Rider University and the Bison Outdoor Classic at Bucknell University.

Zach Fleming put together a performance for the record books at the Bison Outdoor Classic on Saturday. His 26th-place finish in the 5,000-meter invite (15:03.98) wasn’t only a career-best, but it placed him seventh on the school’s all-time list in the event.

Jake Austin also participated in the Bison Outdoor Classic, running a 15:28.89 and finishing in 64th in the 5,000-meter invite.

At the Rider Invite, a total of six Golden Bears posted qualifying times in their respective events for the upcoming Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Outdoor Championships.

Chris Varichione—who finished seventh in the shot put and 12th in the hammer throw—qualified for PSACs in both events. Lanny Buck and Sean Burns both qualified in the pole vault, Tyler Brooks and Richard Gatewood both earned spots in the long jump, and Brendan Lamy qualified with a sixth-place finish in the shot put.

Naeb Mengisteah took eighth place in the 800m run with a career-best time of 1:58.27, Tyler Rolshausen came in ninth in the javelin (47.27m) and Ricardo Kennedy placed 10th in the high jump (1.79m).

The top spot on the day came from the Golden Bears’ 4×400 relay team of Tanner Lipsky, Quran Cason, Austin Gallagher and Mychal Robinson, who finished in second with a time of 3:25.80.

Up next for the Golden Bears are the Princeton Invite and Greyhound Invite, both on Friday and Saturday.