GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah Men's Track and Field team earned a convincing victory at the Messiah Invitational, collecting a final team score of 135, besting the runner-up by nearly 45 points. Rounding out the Top Five was Pitt.- Johnstown (91.50), McDaniel (84), Frostburg State (79), and Lebanon Valley (57).
Up Next
The Falcons will travel to Gettysburg College for the Mason Dixon Invitational on Saturday, April 22nd.
Friday Night
The Falcons had three competitors in the Discus Throw Friday evening. After completing the preliminary flights, the event had to be called for darkness. The top nine throwers returned to Starry Athletic Complex early Saturday morning to compete in finals.
Hoyt Lechthaler entered finals sitting in eighth place but improved his mark in finals to earn fifth with a new personal best throw of 39.56.
Gordon Cahill and
Brett Graff added marks of 27.46 and 21.98 respectively.
Saturday Action
The action on the track was highlighted by three individual victories in the 1500 Meter Run, the 3000 Meter Steeple Chase, and the 5000 Meter Run.Â
Logan Horst led five Falcons who placed in the top ten of the 1500 Meter Run following a two-hour weather delay. Horst crossed the line in a time of 3:58.32 to edge out Pitt.- Johnstown's Luke Cimakasky who crossed just behind him in a time of 3:58.99. Closely behind them were
John Condon (third, 3:59.20) and
Noah Calisti (fourth, 3:59.26).
Andrew Hutchinson (seventh, 4:03.01) and
Josiah Moyer (ninth, 4:04.78) also finished in the top ten for Messiah.
A 21-second personal best time of 9:50.49 led
Josh Bauman to victory in the 3000 Meter Steeple Chase. He finished eleven seconds ahead of second place.
Tyler Billet earned eighth in a time of 10:39.66. Both Bauman and Billet qualified for the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships (MAC) with their times.
It was a familiar scene in the 5000 Meter where Messiah placed five in the top ten like the 1500 Meter earlier in the day. Earning the victory was
Louka Fetter who crossed the line in a time of 14:59.52, beating teammate
Noah Calisti to the line by 26 seconds. Calisti earned his second top-five finish of the day, crossing the line in a time of 15:26.12 to earn second.
Kyle Costello earned a fourth-place finish for the Falcons, crossing the line in a time of 15:33.60.
Josiah Moyer and
Andrew Hutchinson also earned their second top-ten finishes of the afternoon in the event. Moyer's final time of 15:37.75 put him in sixth, while Hutchinson finished in eighth with a final time of 15:47.77.
Derek Heisey earned a second-place finish in the 400 Meter Hurdles after turning in a time of 55.36.
Josiah Zehr added a 10th-place finish and MAC qualifying time, finishing in 58.98. Rounding out the Falcon efforts was
Adam Hostetler, crossing the line in a time of 59.39.
A trio of Falcons ran well in the 200 Meter Dash, with
Aedan Wilkinson leading the way. His season-best time of 23.46 meets the MAC Qualifying time exactly.
Joshua Horst (23.81) and
Adam Handwerk (25.78) both ran personal bests in the event.
Connor Daudt ran a season-best time of 54.00 in the 400 Meter.
Sean Baxter (54.06) and
Adam Handwerk (58.19) earned personal bests on the day.
Logan Horst and
John Condon took fifth and sixth in the 800 Meter Run, crossing the line in 1:58.54 and 1:58.62 respectively. Horst qualified for MACs with the performance. Additionally,
Nathan Kopp (2:01.87),
Nathan Kimmel (2:03.88),
Jack Daudt (2:07.64),
Nathaniel Coggins (2:08.53), and
Sean Baxter (2:08.74) all ran well.
In the preliminaries of the 110 Meter Hurdles,
John Steele was in fifth with a time of 16.00 and earned a place in the finals.
Joshua Horst finished in 17.67. In finals,
John Steele crossed the line in 16.38 to earn sixth overall.
In the relays, Messiah earned three top-eight finishes. The 4x100 Meter Relay team of
Derek Heisey,
Zach French,
Aedan Wilkinson, and
Josiah Zehr combined for a time of 44.23 to earn eighth.
Derek Heisey,
Aedan Wilkinson,
Connor Daudt, and
John Condon earned fourth with a final time of 3:30.09. A third-place finish in the 4x800 Meter Relay highlighted the relay efforts of the day. The team of
Nathan Kimmel,
Adam Hostetler,
Zeke Colyer, and
Nathan Kopp combined for a time of 8:18.73.
Matthew Puleo led the way in the field, throwing a new personal best distance of 55.34 meters to claim the victory in the Javelin Throw.
Hoyt Lechthaler threw a five-meter improvement from his previous best, finishing fifth with a toss of 49.47 meters while earning an MAC qualifying mark.
Lechthaler added a mark of 34.07 meters in the Hammer Throw.
John Steele earned second place in the Triple Jump, leaping to a new personal best distance of 13.59 meters.
Noah Keitel finished in 12th with a mark of 11.90.
Another Falcon found themselves in second after
Zach French jumped a new best of 6.80 meters in the Long Jump, putting him ninth all-time in Messiah history.
Josiah Zehr reached a season-best height of 4.35 meters in the Pole Vault, earning third.
In the High Jump,
Derek Heisey finished fifth in a time of 1.82.
Up Next
The Falcons will travel to Gettysburg College for the Mason Dixon Invitational on Saturday, April 22nd.
