CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - The Messiah men's cross country team claimed its fourth Conference Championship in program history on Saturday morning on the campus of
DeSales University. The Falcons were led by the individual MAC Champion,
Logan Horst, who turned in a time of 26:33.2 to win the title by a little more than 12 seconds. Horst is the Falcons' seventh-ever individual champion in the event, placing first out of 141 total runners.
The Falcons finished with 57 team points, just four ahead of the host
DeSales Bulldogs to claim the Conference Crown. York (3rd, 101 points), Lebanon Valley (4th, 111 points), and
Misericordia (5th, 116 points) rounded out the top-five team finishers.
Kyle Costello (27:04.0) and
Andrew Hutchinson (27:04.3) joined Horst with First Team All-Conference honors as the Falcons finished with four in the top-16 and seven in the top-31 finishers.
It was all around phenomenal effort from every Falcon competing. Messiah had a total of _ runners competing, averaging a timed of 27:18. Costello and Hutchinson earned a sixth and seventh place finish, respectively. Costello's time of 27:04.0 tops his 8K time from two weeks ago at the Aubrey Shenk Invitational, missed beating his Aubrey Shenk time (27:04.2) by just one-tenth of a second. With their top-ten finishes, Costello and Hutchinson joined Horst in earning All-MAC First Team honors.
Earning a spot on the All-MAC Second Team was
Josiah Moyer, finishing the 8K with a time of 27:39.9. Finishing 16th overall, Moyer made a vital contribution to bringing Messiah its fourth conference crown.
Both
Isaac Covert (28:04.5) and
Noah Calisti (28:08.6) claimed All-MAC Third Team accolades with their 27th and 29th overall respective finishes. Senior
Matt Higgs just missed out on earning Third Team recognition with an overall finish 31st, but ran a strong race, crossing the line in 28:11.1.
Other notable finishes included
Cassidy Hoffman (28:39.4),
James Sahakian (28:40.0),
Josiah McCarthy (29:02.6), and
Ray Truex (30:35.6). It was a true team effort as the
Falcons were able to secure their fourth MAC Championship in program history.
In total, Messiah earned six All-Conference accolades in addition to its team championship.
The Messiah men's cross country team previously claimed Conference Championships in 2008, 2017, and 2018. The Falcons have won three of the last four MAC Championships contested after the 2020 Championships were canceled due to
COVID.
What's Up Next
The Falcons will compete in the NCAA DIII Men's Cross Country Mideast Regional (8K) at Big Spring High School in Carlisle, Pa., on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 12:00 p.m.
