Fayetteville, Ark. ? Sophomore Duri Greene (Wyndmoor, Pa. / Springfield) headlined a strong outing from the field performers this past weekend as the Robert Morris University men's track and field team competed at the 2008 John McDonnell Invitational, held on the campus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark.
Greene took fifth place in the men's javelin throw thanks to an IC4A mark of 60.82m, beating the qualifying standard by .82m. Sophomore Chris Resinger (Greenville, Pa. / Greenville) followed Greene in the javelin, taking eighth place with a throw of 57.96m.
Along with the performance in the javelin throw, Greene competed in the men's hammer throw finishing in 10th place with a mark of 45.92m.
Senior Aaron Gurskey (Weirton, W.Va. / Weir) also finished in the upper percentile in two events. The veteran thrower took 10th place in the men's discus throw with a mark of 43.82m and fourth in the hammer with a toss of 52.13m.
Senior Jeff Witmyer (West Lawn, Pa. / Wilson) tied Arkansas' Brent Rosson for fourth place in the men's high jump with a leap of 2.05m, while sophomore Nasim Siddeeq (New Hampton, N.Y. / Goshen Central) also took home fourth place, but in the men's triple jump. The second-year jumper improved on his previous NCAA East Regional qualifying of 15.19m with a new season-best leap of 15.34m.
On the track side of the meet, seniors Phillips Thompson (New Castle, Pa. / Shenango) and C.J. Ecalono (Monrovia, Md. / Urbana) capped off top-5 finishes. Thompson captured third place in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase with a daunting time of 9:17.29, breaking his previous school record of 9:25.05 set on March 22, 2008 at Wake Forest. Ecalono finished in fifth place in the men's 400-meter dash with an even time of 48 seconds, marking his third IC4A qualifying mark of the season.
Robert Morris returns to action this weekend on Saturday, April 26 when the Colonials travel to Loretto, Pa. for the Saint Francis Invitational.
