GRANTHAM, Pa. - On Saturday morning, the Messiah women's cross country competed in the first of four Virtual Meets along with four other Middle Atlantic Conference institutions. On Monday morning the MAC released the results from the Four-Mile Prediction Run with the Falcons turning in the top time. For the prediction race, each student-athlete predicted their final time on the course and their "time" for the event was determined on the difference between their predicted time and actual time.
 
Each team compared the five-closest "times" to generate a team score. The Falcons missed their prediction by just 45 seconds across their five closest runners, topping second-place (and new conference member) York by 50 seconds (1:35). Lebanon Valley (2:25), Stevens (4:00), and King's (4:23) were the other three conference teams in action this weekend, finishing third, fourth, and fifth respectively.
 
Individually, the Falcons dominated the first of four virtual events, finishing with eight of the 15 closest times. Led by a perfect prediction by Cassidy Chandler (29:00) and a one-second difference by Marianne Fitzkee (27:39 actual time), Messiah held the top two closest times to their prediction in the competition. A total of seven Falcons finished within 25 seconds of their predicted time, including Kirsten Howland (28:10 actual time/11 second difference), Amber Swaisgood (28:17/13 seconds), Madison Myers (27:30/20 seconds), Connor Coggins (28:13/20 seconds), Teddi Powell (26:45/21 seconds), Joy Galbraith (27:31/21 seconds), and Ali Shutte (28:11/21 seconds).
 
Overall, Messiah had 34 women compete on Saturday with a total of 18 finishing within a minute of their predicted time. A total of five Falcons matched or beat their predicted time with Olivia Cory edging her prediction of 30:00 by 28 seconds for an actual time of 29:32, the most any Falcon beat their predicted time.
 
While the goal of Saturday was the difference between their predicted time and their actual time, Messiah did have a number of notable performances in terms of raw time. Three Falcons turned in sub-27-minute times with Cera Gaston (26:05), Teddi Powell (26:24), and Sarah Codd (26:39) leading the charge for Messiah.
 
Madison Myers (27:30) turned in the fourth-fastest time for the Falcons with Chloe Wester and Joy Galbraith both finishing in 27:31 for the fifth-fastest time of the day for Messiah.
 
All five teams competed during a three-day window from Sept. 17-19, 2020.
 
The Falcons will be back in action in two weeks when they run in the second of four virtual meets organized by the Middle Atlantic Conference. Sometime between Oct. 1-3, Messiah will compete in the Mixed Gender Relay Race with two men and two women paired for an eight-mile relay race.