LANCASTER, Pa. - The Messiah men's track and field team started the 2022-23 indoor season at the Diplomat Open hosted by Franklin & Marshall University on Friday afternoon and evening. Ten individuals qualified for the MAC Championship Meet with their performances of the night. The Falcons achieved three first-place finishes in addition to a number of other top-10 performances.
 
An early highlight of the night came in the 5,000 Meter. The Falcons placed six in the top-10 of the event, including first and second place finishes for Louka Fetter (15:24.00) and Noah Calisti (15:32.95), respectively. Calisti spent the first half of the race in the top-five before moving into second during the 12th lap. He then moved to the front of the pack three laps later. Fetter began just ahead of Calisti before slipping behind him in the middle of the race. He moved into second place during the 15th lap and remained there until his move into first with 600 meters to go. Josh Bauman's time of 15:47.05 earned him a fourth-place finish while Andrew Hutchinson's time of 15:51.42 placed him in seventh to end the race. Rounding out Messiah's top-ten finishers were Jonathan Wyrick (ninth) and Zeke Colyer (10th) who ran 16:50.35 and 17:08.91, respectively. Fetter, Calisti, Bauman, and Hutchinson all turned in MAC qualifying performances.
           
The Falcons placed two runners in the top-ten of the Mile with Nathan Kimmel earning a sixth-place finish in a time of 4:40.70 and John Condon earning ninth place in 4:45.14.
 
Top-10 performances in the 60 Meter and 60 Meter High Hurdles earned MAC Championship spots for Zach Mayro and John Steele. Mayro finished ninth in the 60 Meter with a time of 7.33 while Steele finished 10th in the 60 Meter High Hurdles with a time of 9.35. Steele also earned a qualifying performance in the Triple Jump after finishing third with a jump of 12.97m. Landon Kerr also qualified in the Triple Jump with a distance of 12.53m.
 
A first-place finish for Derek Heisey in the High Jump highlighted the field performances for the Falcons. His height of 1.90m had him tied with Lucas Maggipinto from Elizabethtown but he was awarded first place based on attempts taken. The performance sealed Heisey's spot at the MAC Championship. Heisey also earned a ninth-place finish in the 200 Meter with a time of 24.10.
 
Two Falcons jumped MAC qualifying heights in the Pole Vault while turning in top-10 finishes. Colbie-Stephen Mason jumped a height of 4.09m and earned a third-place finish on attempts taken. Three vaulters finished with a height of 3.94m and after attempts taken, Josiah Zehr finished tied in fifth.
 
A first-place finish in the 4x400 Meter Relay highlighted the end of competition for the Falcons. The team of Zehr, Mason, Condon and Kimmel edged out Swarthmore by less than three tenths of a second to finish in a time of 3:37.29.
 
The Falcons will next be in action on Jan. 21, 2023 when they travel to Houghton University.

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