UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (Jan. 10, 2009) – Led by five individual titles, the Saint Francis men’s and women’s indoor track & field teams completed a strong showing on Saturday at the Penn State Relays, which were held at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.

Seniors Jorden Davis (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada / Loyola Catholic), Karl DeWayngaert (Red Bank, N.J. / Red Bank), Josh Hazen (Vernon, N.J. / Vernon) and William Velez (Staten Island, N.Y. / Benedictine), and junior Chris Behre (Flanders, N.J. / Mount Olive) all won events for the Red Flash.

Davis took the individual title in the 300-meter dash with a time of 34.44 seconds, which was just .17 seconds from tying the meet and facility record. Penn State’s Mike Cadau finished just behind Davis with a time of 34.47 seconds.

Behre took home first place in the 1000-meter run in 2:28.07, which was nearly a minute faster than Villanova’s Matthew Wickler.

DeWayngaert took gold in the Weight Throw with a toss of 57-feet, 8.5-inches, just over 10 inches further than Penn State’s Adam Thielemann.

Hazen won the SFU dominated Shot Put event with a distance of 53-10.25. Seniors Ben Maderia (Summerhill, Pa. / Forest Hills) and DeWayngaert took third and fourth, respectively, in the same event. Maderia threw a toss of 51-01.50, and DeWayngaert’s throw went 49-08.25. Maderia also finished sixth in the Weight Throw with a toss of 54-04.75.

Velez won the Long Jump with a distance of 23-06.75, and was followed by fellow senior Denis Eradiri (Sofia, Bulgaria / Vladislav Gramatik 73) in third place with a distance of 22-05.00. Velez also took second in the High Jump with a distance of 6-06.25, and finished fourth in the 60-meter dash in 7.06 seconds.

Freshman Michael Steffenino finished sixth in the Pole Vault with a height of 14-03.25, and sophomores Andrew Brown  and Andrew McKee took second and third, respectively, in the Mile Run. Brown crossed the line in 4:39.35, and McKee finished in 4:41.38.

On the women’s side, senior Elise Pearce (Cherry Tree, Pa. / Purchase Line) took second in the Weight Throw with a toss of 49-07.25. Sophomore Christin Bridge was third in the Shot Put with 41-07.25.

The Red Flash will be right back at it this Saturday when they travel to Bucknell.