GRANTHAM, Pa. - Over the weekend, the Messiah men's and women's cross country teams competed in their final MAC Virtual Meet of the fall semester, running a 5K Race on the Starry Track on Saturday night. Early this week, the Middle Atlantic Conference released the results of that virtual meet with the Falcon on top of both the men's and women's races. The women's team won with 22 team points while the men finished first as well with 26 team points.
As a team, the women finished in first among the four programs that produced team scores. The Falcons finished with 22 team points, dominating the field by more than 40 points. The York Spartans took second with 63 team points, while Lebanon Valley (76 points) and Alvernia (126 points) rounded out the team scoring. FDU-Florham, King's, and Stevens also had runners compete, but did not have enough for a team score.
In the individual standings, the Falcons littered the leaderboard with 18 of the top 30 finishers in the virtual meet.
Cera Gaston was the highest finisher for Messiah with a second-place finish with a time of 18:06, just 12 seconds behind the winner, Lauren Wick (17:54) of Lebanon Valley. Five other Falcons joined Gaston in the top-10 of the race with
Teddi Powell (18:38, third),
Chloe Wester (18:43, fourth),
Sarah Codd (18:52, sixth),
Katie Anthony (19:21, seventh), and
Connor Coggins (19:27, ninth) helping give Messiah six of the nine fastest times in the event.
On the men's side, the Falcons finished with 26 team points, first among the six schools with team scores in the competition. Just like the women's side, the York Spartans took second in the team standings with 59.5 team points. DeSales (71.5 points), Lebanon Valley (85 points), Stevens (127.5 points), and Alvernia (174 points) rounded out the final team scores from the virtual meet. FDU-Florham and King's also competed this weekend, but did not have enough runners for a team score.
As a result of hand timing for the event, there was a tie at the top of the individual leaderboard between a pair of Falcons.
Galen Fitzkee and
Logan Horst finished the race in 15:32, hustling to the finish line in a thrilling finish. Fitzkee edged Horst by a nose at the line, but due to hand timing, the MAC recognized the duo, tying for first. Additionally,
Nate Romberger (15:38) and
Andrew Hutchinson (15:50) finished in the top-10, placing fourth and eighth, respectively.
Kyle Costello (16:00) was the fifth Falcon across the line in 11th place. In total eight Falcons placed in the top-20.
The 5K Virtual Meet caps off a busy fall for the Falcons. Messiah competed in three virtual meets through the MAC as well as an intersquad 5K competition in the middle of October.
