T&F impressive at nationals

The Penn State Fayette track and field team took part in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) national championship Saturday, and the team brought home solid results as the women took fourth overall and the men finished fifth overall.

The Fayette women finished with a score of 52 points, with Maine-Fort Kent winning with 206 points.  The Fayette men finished with a score of 73.5 points.  Maine Fort Kent also won the men's title, finishing with 137 points.

"We had a lot of personal records, and it was a successful trip," he said. "Chloe (Kalp) was phenomenal winning the 10k and 5k.  James (Plez) had a great day with school records in the long and triple jumps as well as in the 100-meter."

Kalp (Melcroft, PA/Connellsville HS) finished the women's 10,000-meter run in 40:59.20, almost three minutes ahead of the runner-up.  In the 5,000-meter, Kalp finished in a time of 21:23.8, which was also good for almost a three-minute win.

Julie Seliga (Smock, PA/Uniontown HS) took third in the women's 1,500-meter run (5:49.54) and sixth in the women's 800-meter run (2:58.75).  Jen Zelenick (Fredericktown, PA/Beth-Center HS) took third in the women's hammer throw (27.68 meters), the women's javelin throw (24.16 meters) and the women's shot put (8.45 meters) as well as fourth in the women's discus throw (22.69 meters). 

Plez (Philadelphia, PA/Northeast HS) finished third in the men's triple jump with a school record distance of 12.25 meters and fifth in the long jump with a school record distance of 6.19 meters.  He finished fourth in the men's 100-meter dash with a school record time of 11.69 seconds.

Drew Erdman (Greensburg, PA/Greensburg Salem HS) finished second in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:59.32), Alex Gostev (Fair Lawn, NJ) took third in the men's 10,000-meter run (40:31.19), Logan Miller (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) placed third in the men's pole vault (2.45 meters), Gavin Postlethwait (New Martinsville, WV/Magnolia HS) took third in the men's high jump (1.75 meters),  Cooper Salvay (LaBelle, PA/Brownsville HS) took sixth in the men's 400-meter dash (55:27), Mitch Minda (Elizabeth, PA/Elizabeth Forward HS) took third in the men's 5,000-meter run (17:49.1) and seventh in the men's 1,500-meter run (4:39.12), Jake Noel (Greater Latrobe, PA/Greater Latrobe, PA) was fourth in the men's hammer throw (22.8 meters), and Fayette took third in the men's 4x400 relay (4:44.9) and fourth in the men's 4x100 relay (46.70).

For more information on the Penn State track and field team, go to https://www.psfathletics.com/sports/track/index or follow the team on Instagram @fayetteathletics.  

For more information on the USCAA nationals, please go to https://www.theuscaa.com/landing/index.