CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - The Messiah Men's Cross Country team returned to action after a week off with an incredible performance at the DeSales Invitational on a cool, sunny morning that had nearly perfect conditions for racing. The Falcons took advantage of the excellent conditions by running a series of personal best and season best times despite the course having significant elevation change and hills throughout. The Falcons were a clear winner in the team competition, placing first overall amongst 16 scoring teams with a team score of just 40 points and putting distance on conference rivals DeSales (2nd place, 59 points) and Widener (3rd place, 64 points). The Falcons benefitted from an incredibly deep squad on the day, placing 7 runners in the top 20 to overcome Widener's low scoring top two runners in 1st and 3rd overall. The Falcons' average time of 26:45 and total time of 2:13:45 stand as their second-fastest totals so far this season, just behind their performances from an extremely flat Salisbury course earlier in the season.
Race Action
Louka Fetter was the top Falcon on the day, running a season best time of 26:14.8 to finish in 2nd place overall. As with other races this season, Fetter began the race very cautiously, opening up the first half kilometer around 40th place with a large pack of teammates consisting of
Kyle Costello,
Kaleb Kabakjian,
Tyler Billet,
Jackson Kay, and
Bradley Kreider, and
John Condon. The Falcons passed together through the first mile around 5:42 and ran together as a large pack until around the 2 mile mark, when Fetter and Kabakjian began to pull away from their teammates. Fetter continued to move up in the field during the third mile, breaking away from Kabakjian right before the third mile mark. Fetter passed through the third mile in 16:21 after a quick third mile and moved up into 3rd place overall shortly thereafter, finding himself in no man's land for much of the race after. During the last quarter mile, Fetter managed to move up into second with a quick finish, emphasizing his strong season best performance.
Kaleb Kabakjian was the second Falcon to cross the line, finishing in 6th place overall with a time of 26:40.9. Kabakjian ran well with Fetter for the first half of the race after the two distanced themselves from their teammates, proceeding to run very strongly in isolation from any teammates or other competitors for much of the race thereafter. Kabakjian spent much of the later stages of the race in 6th place, closing the gap to DeSales' top runner throughout the last two kilometers and finishing just barely behind at the finish. Just like Fetter, Kabakjian strongly negative split his race after a cautious opening, finishing very quickly to turn in an excellent performance.
John Condon was the third Falcon to finish, crossing the line just one place behind Kabakjian in 7th place overall. After gradually moving up throughout the first three miles, Condon found himself in 11th place overall, and continued on by tracking closely behind Kabakjian. Condon remained somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds behind his teammate throughout the rest of the race, moving up from 11th to 7th by the finish to register a strong time of 26:45.5.
Tyler Billet was the next Falcon across the line, running a season best time of 26:56.9. Billet found himself in a second Falcon pack of himself, Kay, and Kreider shortly after the first mile, but began to break free from his teammates around the three mile mark. Billet passed four competitors from that point to the finish, carrying on strongly in isolation from any teammates to place 11th overall with a great race.
Nathaniel Coggins rounded out the Falcons' top five, running an incredible breakout race to register his highest ever team finish as a Falcon. Coggins finished in 14th place with a time of 27:07.1, an incredible personal record by 24 seconds on a very hilly course. Coggins began his race with teammates
Josh Bauman,
Lance Kauffman, and
Evan Sarkett, speeding up very quickly after the hilly section in the first two miles and pulling Bauman along to a quick 16:54 three mile split. Coggins continued ahead, distancing himself from Bauman over the next kilometer and passing 8 competitors during the last two kilometers to place 14th overall. Coggins' excellent breakout race cemented the Falcons' win in the team score, providing an excellent fifth performance to complete the scoring team.
Josh Bauman was the sixth Falcon across the line with a time of 27:15.1, a time that stands as a strong season best in surpassing his time of 28:15 from Salisbury earlier in the season. Bauman finished very strongly to surpass teammates
Jackson Kay,
Kyle Costello, and
Bradley Kreider during the last mile, just barely edging past Kay in the final stretch to finish in 19th overall. Kay rounded out the top 20 in the race with a time of 27:16.1 as the seventh Falcon after running most of the race with
Bradley Kreider, distancing himself just enough from his other two teammates to be the last Falcon to register a team score.
Kyle Costello was the eighth Falcon across the line with an overall placement of 21st, running a season best time of 27:21.2. Costello opened up the race with a very strong first five kilometers before finishing around the mass of Falcon runners who finished around the top 20.
Bradley Kreider was the final Falcon in that group, finishing just behind in 23nd place with a time of 27:27.2. The Falcons' top ten was rounded out by
Lance Kauffman, who finished just a second outside of his season best time by crossing the line in 28:04.2.
Sean Baxter was the next Falcon across the line, leading a pack of himself and
Gus Rouland,
Nathan Kimmel, and
Zeke Colyer in starting the race together as a group. Baxter ran with his teammates through the first two miles before breaking off the front with a gap of 6 seconds back to Rouland and Kimmel at three miles. Baxter continued to gain time throughout the rest of the race, finishing with an incredible time of 28:30.5 that bests his previous season best by exactly one minute.
Gus Rouland was the next Falcon across the line with an excellent personal best time of 28:40.2 after following Baxter closely for much of the race. Kimmel finished close behind with a time of 28:49.5, while Colyer returned to race action with a time of 28:53.8.
Evan Sarkett, who ran with this group for much of the middle stages of the race, finished with a time of 28:58.9.
Ryan Klemick turned in an excellent performance for the Falcons in his first all-out race, finishing with a personal best time of 29:01.7.
Josiah Carnwath was the next Falcon to cross the line, ending up with a time of 30:06.3 in his return to racing.
Matthew Rush finished with a time of 31:00.9, with
Ethan Dell just a few seconds behind with a time of 31:08.5 in just his second race this season. After running with Dell for much of the race,
Daniel Satariano finished with a time of 31:35.0, just ahead of
Nathan Seibert who turned in the final performance for the Falcons, finishing with a time of 33:03.4.
What's Up Next
The Falcons will return to action next weekend at the Aubrey Shenk Invitational hosted by Gettysburg University, a more flat course that will provide an opportunity for the Falcons to showcase their fitness by running quick times in a late-season competition. Today's hilly race at DeSales prepares the Falcons very well for the Middle Atlantic Conference XC Championships the first weekend of November, with all efforts so far on the season pointing towards November.
