BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The men's cross country team's season comes to a close after racing their way to a 17th place finish at the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Championship. Messiah had four of their top five runners finish in the top-100 out of 360 competitors. The Falcons finished with a total score of 470 points with a total time of 2:13:5, an average of 26:47.
Galen Fitzkee led the way for Messiah, finishing in 74th place with a time of 26:30.7.
Nate Romberger finished closely behind, coming through the line in 26:34.1 to finish in 79th place.
In the Results
As mentioned,
Galen Fitzkee and
Nate Romberger led the charge for the Falcons. The duo came through the mile split just 0.1 seconds off of each other, coming through in 5:16.1 and 5:16.0, respectively. Fitzkee came through the three mile split in 21:03.6 and dropped four spots coming into the finish line, completely the 8k in 26:30.7 to take 74th. Romberger was right ther with Fitzkee at the three mile split and stayed consistent til the end, coming in 79th place with a time of 26:34.1.
The next pair of Falcons to come through were
Alex Scheib and
Logan Horst. The pair took 93rd and 94th with Sheib earning the 0.3 second edge over Horst.
Alex Scheib came through the three mile split in 21:12.2 while Horst came through in 21:18.4. Horst battled his way from 99th to 94th down the homestretch of the course but couldn't overtake Scheib. Scheib finished with an overall time of 26:46.4 while Horst came through in 26:46.7.
Rounding out the Falcons' top-five in the competition was
Silas Buckwalter. Buckwalter averaged a 5:28.6 mile to take 130th place with a time of 27:12.9. Messiah also had
Cassidy Hoffman (152nd) and
Matthew Royer (185th) compete, finishing the 8k in 27:32.6 and 28:05.5, respectively.
