READING, Pa. - The Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships got underway on Friday afternoon at the PLEX Complex on the campus of Alvernia University. After just a handful of finals events, the Messiah men's track and field team sits in a tie for sixth place with 14 team points. Messiah picked up their points on Friday with top-five finishes in the two relays, the 4x200 Meter Relay and Distance Medley Relay, as well as
Nate Romberger finishing in fourth place in the 5,000 Meter.
The bulk of finals events will be contested on Saturday when the MAC Championships conclude from Alvernia. The action gets started at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday.
In the Results
As mentioned, Messiah's day was highlighted by the relays and a top-five finish from
Nate Romberger in the 5,000 Meter. Romberger finished the race in a time of 15:34..85, placing him comfortably in fourth place. Cross country National Champion, Patrick Watson from Stevenson won the event with a new MAC Championship record time of 14:44.12. A pair of Widener runners, Matthew Kazanjian and Ryan Rastatter finished in second and third, with times of 14:46.42 and 15:30.41, respectively.
Romberger's finish gave the Falcons five team points.
Josiah Moyer also competed in the 5,000 Meter, finishing the race in 11th place in a time of 16:06.55.
Messiah also turned in top-five finishes in both relays contested on Friday night with a fourth-place finish in the Distance Medley Relay and a fifth-place finish in the 4x200 Meter Relay. The team of
Logan Horst,
Ryan Thurber,
Matthew Royer, and
Alex Scheib finished the Distance Medley Relay in the time of 10:29.89 to take fourth. DeSales (10.28.143) won gold in a photo finish over Stevenson (10:28.147) by just three thousands of a second.
Messiah's 4x200 Meter Relay team raced around the track in a time of 1:34.70 with
Chris Muchimba,
Caleb Puleo,
Caleb Christner, and
Josiah Zehr taking fifth place in the event. The Stevenson Mustangs won the event in a time of 1:31.31.
Individually,
Brendan Provan competed in the 60 Meter prelims. His time of 7.31 placed him in 13th, but was short of the needed time of 7.17 to qualify for the finals.
Messiah sent four Falcons to the starting blocks in the prelims of the 60 Meter Hurdles.
Andrew Schott (9.18), Mike Williams (9.22),
Josiah Zehr (9.27), and
Joel Rhinehart (9.42) finished consecutively from 15th to 18th, respectively.
In the field, Messiah's
Zachary Zigarelli finished 17th in the weight throw with a distance of 11.85 meters.
Four of the seven legs of the Heptathlon are complete with
Caleb Puleo (2,390 points) and
Josiah Provan (2,092 points) in sixth and 10th, respectively. The shot put was the best event for both Puleo (second - 11.26 meters) and Provan (fifth - 10.22 meters), both earning top-five finishes. The Heptathlon will conclude tomorrow with the 60 Meter Hurdles, Pole Vault, and 1,000 Meter still to be contested.
What's Up Next
The Falcons will be back at it tomorrow morning when Day Two of the MAC Indoor Championships get started at 11:00 a.m.
