The Middlebury men's track and field team wrapped up its annual spring break trip to California with four event wins and a school record during the Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) Collegiate Invitational. The meet was highlighted by victories from Peter Hansen, Will Lavey, Dave Filias and Dan Urchuk along with a school-record performance from the Panther 4x100 relay quartet.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Lavey won the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9.37.66, just ahead of runner-up Owen Johnson (9:44.01). The times were both personal bests for each runner.
• The team of Xander Swann, Richard Clark, Aidan Castanon and Aaron Tobias posted a school-record clocking of 41.88 in the 4x100, lowering the previous record of 42.08 set in 2018.
• Filias won the hammer throw with a personal-record toss of 51.90 meters, bettering his previous mark by nearly five meters. He also finished fourth in the shot put with a heave of 13.14m.
• Also competing in the hammer throw were Urchuk (43.56m), James Hetherington (42.18m) and Samuel Maxwell (42.08m) who recorded fourth through sixth places, while Logan Cosgrove was sixth in the shot put (12.95m).
• Urchuk claimed the title in the discus, winning the event by 1.79 meters and bettering his personal best by over four meters with a victorious toss of 41.82m. Cosgrove was third in the discus with a personal-best mark (39.65m), while Maxwell was fourth (39.39m). 
• Hansen was the fourth victor of the day, stopping the clock in 54.68 to win the 400 hurdles. 
• Luke Lorenz finished second in the 1,500, crossing the line in 4:01.76, while Johnny LaFortune was just 0.83 seconds behind in fifth.
• Jefferson Hill also picked up a top-five finish with a personal-best clocking of 15.27 seconds in the 110 hurdles to garner fourth place.
• Continuing his strong weekend, Max Cluss finished fourth in the 800 (1:54.01), just ahead of Zach Utz in fifth (1:54.59). Cluss raced on Friday night in the 1,500, finishing 10th at the Mangrum Invitational. 
• Castanon was fifth in the 200 with a time of 21.92.
• A few events later, Joel Kofman tied his collegiate-best height of 4.34m to earn runner-up laurels in the pole vault.
• Fifth-place showings came from Lucas Donavan-Lafuente in the javelin (43.08m), Sam McGarrahan during the high jump (1.81m) and Walker Coleman in the long jump (6.50m), Coleman's mark bested his previous distance in the event by 0.02 meters set last spring.

NOTES

• Other personal-record performances came from Shef West in the 1,500 (4:03.88), Quinn Kennedy in the 100 hurdles (15.46), Clark in the 100 (10.87), Luke Hayes in the 400 hurdles (57.02), Peter Burke in the 5,000 (15:50.55), Tony Wang in the long jump (6.12m) and Filias in the discus (31.53m). 

The Panthers have a week off from competition before returning to action on Saturday, April 8 at the Amherst Spring Fling.