GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah men's track and field team sent Falcons to both the Penn State Tune-Up and Kutztown Last Chance Qualifier with strong showings across the boards in both events. In State College,
Alex Scheib turned in a top-10 time in program history in the 800 Meter (1:57.66) while numerous Falcons qualified for the MAC Indoor Championships in Kutztown.
Many Falcons turned in season and personal-bests on a solid Friday for the Falcons.
Messiah will be back in action next weekend when they travel to Alvernia University on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 28-29) for the MAC Indoor Championship. The action begins on Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. and continues through Saturday night.
Penn State Tune-Up Update
Messiah sent
Alex Scheib and
Nate Romberger to the Penn State Tune-Up with Scheib turning in a top-10 mark in program history in the 800 Meter with a time of 1:57.66 and Romberger winning the mile (4:37.73).
Scheib finished the 800 Meter in 13th place against a field littered with Division I talent, including five runners from Penn State. Domenic Perretta (Penn State - Unattached) won the event in a time of 1:51.31.
Nate Romberger was also in action, running in the mile on Friday afternoon. In a small, three-runner field Romberger won the event with a time of 4:37.73, more than five seconds ahead of second-place.
Kutztown Last Chance Qualifier
Messiah's effort at the Kutztown Last Chance Qualifier was highlighted by five Falcons turning in MAC Championship qualification marks and a total of 22 top-10 finishes on the day.
Chad Long (800 Meter),
Isaac Covert (800 Meter),
Clayton Miller (Pole Vault),
Chris Muchimba (200 Meter), and
Caleb Puleo (Heptathlon) all qualified for next weekend's MAC Championships thanks to strong performances on Friday in Kutztown.
The Falcons turned in a handful of events with multiple top-10 showings, including the 3,000 Meter, 55 Meter Hurdles, 55 Meter Dash, 200 Meter, and 800 Meter.
In the 3,000 Meter,
Andrew Hutchinson led the Falcons with a fifth-place finish in a time of 9:32.12.
Ryan McAllister (9:50.63),
James Sahakian (10:00.81), and
Gabriel Tiday (10:03.71) finished consecutively in eight, ninth, and tenth to join Hutchinson in the top-10 of the event.
Both
Andrew Schott and
Michael Williams qualified for the finals of the 55 Meter Hurdles with Schott taking fifth in the prelims and Williams in sixth. Schott (8.537) edged Williams (8.539) by just two thousands of a second. In the finals, the pair finished in the same order, with Schott fifth (8.53) and Williams sixth (8.59).
Caleb Puleo (8.66) and
Joel Rhinehart (8.733) also competed in the event, earning eighth and ninth in the prelims, respectively.
The 800 Meter was another big event for the Falcons with both
Chad Long and
Isaac Covert qualifying for the MAC Championships in the event with times of 2:04.79 and 2:05.14, respectively. Long took home third in the event with Covert hot on his heels in fourth.
Luke Myers (7th - 2:05.95) and
Jack Franceschina (10th - 2:07.80) also earned top-10 finishes in the event, giving Messiah four of the top-10 finishers.
In the 55 Meter Dash,
Chris Muchimba (6.85) and
Brendan Provan (6.89) finished in the top-10, but just barely missed out on running in the finals by a few hundredths of a second. The last spot in the finals was taken by East Stroudsburg's Brendan Barton with a time of 6.84.
The pair of Muchimba and Provan also turned in solid performances in the 200 Meter with Muchimba taking fourth in the event with a time of 23.76 and Provan just behind him in sixth with a mark of 23.90. Muchimba's time was strong enough to qualify him for the MAC Championships next week.
On the track, Messiah also turned in top-10 finishes in the mile with
Logan Horst taking fourth in the event with a time of 4:38.06 and
Cassidy Hoffman earning a runner-up finish in the 400 Meter with a time of 55.38.
The 4x400 Meter Relay team of
Cassidy Hoffman,
Logan Horst,
Ryan Thurber, and
Chad Long crossed the line in 3:44.57 to take third in the event, less than a second behind conference rival Arcadia (3:43.67) for second.
In the field, Messiah earned solid showings in the Pole Vault by
Caleb Christner (ninth - 3.97m) and High Jump by
Andrew Schott (seventh - 1.75m).
Clayton Miller also punched his ticket to the MAC Championship in the Pole Vault with a height of 3.81 meters on Saturday, finishing in 12th place.
Additionally, with his cumulative times across Friday, and throughout the indoor season,
Caleb Puleo was able to qualify for the MAC Championships in the Heptathlon.
