Track & Field Info:
Welcome to the Home of the
MAC Indoor Champions 2003-2008
MAC Outdoor Champions 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2009!
MAC OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS SITE
Elizabethtown College added the sport of men's and women's track & field in 1998-99. ETown participated in the Indoor MAC Championships for the first time in 1999. The Blue Jays participated in the Outdoor MAC Championship for the first time in 2000.
ETown Men’s Indoor Track & Field …
ETown’s indoor team has produced 63 First-Team All-MAC athletes and 40 Indoor MAC Individual or Relay Champions since 1999. The team has won the MAC Indoor Track & Field Championships every year since 2003—now six years-in-a-row (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008). The highest-ever finish at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships was 12th in 2006. ETown has recorded eight All-American performances at the indoor championships since 2003 when Jason Patterson (triple jump) became the school’s first-ever All-American in the sport of indoor track & field. In 2007, Kevin Clark won the pole vault at the indoor national championships and thus became our first-ever National Champion in track & field and the College’s first individual champion in any sport since 1982! Click here to view video of Clark's historic vault.
His 17'1-1/2" performance will remain one of the most amazing athletic feats in the College's sports history. Coach Eric Bennett's protégé won his national title despite having no indoor vaulting facilties whatsoever and having only "left the ground" occasionally while participating at weekend competitions leading up to the indoor national championships.
In 2008, the Blue Jay men defended their indoor MAC title for the sixth year-in-a-row tying Messiah College. With his team down two points heading into the 4X400m relay, senior Drew Graybeal anchored the Blue Jays to a thrilling victory in the event securing the tie and keeping at least a share of title in the possession of ETown. Graybeal was named the Indoor Track Athlete of the Year for his victory in the 400m, 800m, and 4X400m. Graybeal barely made the cut for the Indoor NCAA Division III T&F Championships held at Ohio Northern University. His 49.44 run at the MAC Championships was the last time to make the field of 12 runners. At nationals, however, Graybeal advanced to the finals and finished 3rd overall to earn All-America honors. Fellow senior Kevin Clark went into the national meet ranked 7th and came out in 4th place with a season best vault of 16'5-1/2" to earn his All-America certificate.
ETown Men’s Outdoor Track & Field …
ETown won their first-ever outdoor team championship in 2004 beating Susquehanna University by a mere 1-1/2 points in a team battle that came down to the 4X400m relay. The win completed the rare accomplishment of what has become known in cross country/track & field circles as the “Triple Crown” or conference championships in cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field all in the same academic year. In May, 2007, ETown hosted the three-day Middle-Atlantic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships for the first time ever and the men’s team came up victorious again. Thus, the same feat was accomplished during the 2006-07 academic year and the class of ’07 book-ended their college careers with “Triple Crown” titles. The men’s outdoor track & field team has produced 51 First-Team All-MAC athletes and 37 Outdoor MAC Individual or Relay Champions since 2000.
Elizabethtown College has been represented at the men’s outdoor national championships every year since 2003. The highest-ever men’s team finish at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships was 6th in 2004. Thus, the men’s track & field team finished sixth in the country in just their sixth year of existence! The ETown men have produced an impressive 11 All-American performances by nine athletes at the outdoor championships since 2003. All-American performances have come in a variety of events including the long jump, triple jump, pole vault, 400m intermediate hurdles, 800m, 5000m, and 10,000m with National Runner-Up performances by Dave Berdan (10,000m in 2004) and Kevin Clark (pole vault in 2006).
The 2008 season was one of ETown's best. At the 2008 MAC Outdoor Championships held at Widener University, the Blue Jays won their second outdoor title-in-a-row in convincing fashion. In 2007, ETown beat then MAC rival Moravian College by 32-1/2 points to take home the team title. In 2008, ETown beat runner-up Messiah College by 34 points to win their first-ever back-to-back outdoor track & field titles and third outdoor title in five years. Drew Graybeal (800m) and Kevin Clark (Decathlon and pole vault) went on to represent ETown at the NCAA Division III Outdoor T&F Championships in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. There Clark finished 4th in the Decathlon with 6,608 points to earn All-American honors for the first time in the multi-event competition and for the fifth time in his illustrious career.
Graybeal
(pictured right) qualified in both the 400m (47.99) and the 800m (1:50.99) for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 2008. Graybeal opted to run only the 800m at outdoor nationals, but failed to advance to the finals finishing 15th in the event. The disappointing ending was anti-climatic for one of the all-time great track men to ever don the "E" on his chest. In May, 2008 Graybeal concluded a brilliant career where he led the Blue Jay men to six MAC team titles (four indoor and two outdoor titles). He earned All-America honors four times as the 800m-leg on the 2006 DMR team, as well as, and in the open 400m and 800m in 2007 and 2008. So exciting were Graybeal's races that ETown teams often lined both sides of the track and yelled "D-R-ooohhh" in unison as he wizzed by running down his competition in the 4X400m relay with 46-47 second 400m speed. Eventually, the scenario became known to everyone in the program simply as "The Drew Tunnel". Both Clark and Graybeal (like alumnus, Dave Berdan '04) hope to continue competing in track & field at a high level and qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2012.
Elizabethtown College MensTrack News
There are no news items.
| Now | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 2009 | J | F | M | A | M | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2008 | J | F | M | A | M | - | - | - | - | - | - | D |
| 2007 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | D |
