GETTYSBURG, Pa. - The Messiah Men's Cross Country team took advantage of great racing conditions alongside a quick course and great competition at the Aubrey Shenk Invitational hosted Saturday by Gettysburg University. The Falcons finished second in the team competition thanks to a slew of excellent performances reflected by the quick conditions and terrain. The Messiah men placed second in the team competition with 66 points, finishing behind only GRC-Tracksmith - a non-collegiate running club – who registered a total of 30 points. The Falcons finished convincingly ahead of Division I St. Bonaventure (3rd place, 91 points) and put considerable distance on their nearest MAC rival, York (5th place, 206 points). The Falcons also registered a total top five time of 2:10:03 for an average of 26:00, easily their fastest total time so far this season by 3:14. The Falcons packed extremely well towards the front of the competition placing two in the top 10, five in the top 25, and nine in the top 50 in a field of 226 finishers alongside a slew of personal and season best times on the day.
Race Action
The Falcons were led by Junior
Louka Fetter, who registered his third straight top finish for the team with a season best time of 25:32.0. Fetter finished in sixth place overall with a time that surpasses his previous season best from last week's DeSales XC Invite by over 40 seconds, bringing him within a minute of his personal best and marking his fastest time so far since his return from injury. Fetter ran almost the entirety of his race with teammate
John Condon, who finished very close behind with an incredible personal best time of 25:35.6 that improves upon his previous best of 25:43 from last year. Fetter and Condon began the race together at a cautious opening pace alongside teammates
Kyle Costello,
Kaleb Kabakjian, and
Tyler Billet, passing together through halfway in about 13:09. Immediately after, Fetter surged ahead in an effort to close the large gap to runners up ahead, bringing Condon in tow with Costello close behind. Condon caught up to his teammate and began to push the pace around the six-kilometer mark, opening up a small gap on Fetter. Fetter struck again at the beginning of the final mile, surging ahead convincingly before just holding on to the finish to end up with a three second gap on his teammate. Fetter and Condon both ran excellent races, finishing back-to-back in 6th and 7th place and running second-half race splits of 12:23 and 12:26 respectively, a huge negative split from their 13:09 open. Fetter and Condon also registered the two fastest final two kilometers of any competitors in the race, demonstrating the success of their patient race strategy.
Kyle Costello was third for the Falcons after following behind Condon after Fetter's surge at halfway, finishing with a huge season best time of 26:06 that beats his previous best this season by 75 seconds. Costello followed Fetter and Condon through the 6k mark in close order before holding his own during the final two kilometers with a quick 5:00 split for his last .97 mile segment. Costello's team finish of third marks his highest finish so far this season for the Falcons in his continued return from injury. Costello also finished in 15th place overall, making him the last placing competitor in today's race.
Freshman
Kaleb Kabakjian was the fourth Falcon across the line today, finishing with a time of 26:21.4. Kabakjian ran a more even race, holding the same pace throughout while not quite following his teammates' surge during the second half. Kabakjian split times of 13:09 and 13:12 in the two halves of his race, keeping all of his miles within 10 seconds of each other before finishing with a 5:06 split for his last .97 mile segment. So far, Kabakjian has had an excellent freshman season in which he has been able to contribute wonderfully to the Falcons' team performance, with more surely to follow in the postseason races to come.
Nathaniel Coggins reprised his efforts from last week's race at DeSales to register another 5th place finish amongst his teammates with another huge personal record time. Coggins ran a time of 26:28.1, a spectacular time that stands as a personal record by 39 seconds and brings his total improvement this season to 63 seconds. Coggins ran with teammate
Josh Bauman for the entirety of the race through every single mile and kilometer split, just outkicking his senior teammate to finish in 28th place overall as the final contributor to the Falcons' team score.
Josh Bauman finished behind in very close order as the sixth Falcon with a time of 26:28.7, with just 0.6 seconds separating the two teammates. Bauman's time stands as an excellent season best performance by a margin of 46 seconds, bringing him within 15 seconds of his lifetime personal record. Bauman and Coggins ran an incredible time of 4:49 for their last .97 mile segment while passing 16 competitors in the last two kilometers, continuing the Falcons' theme of the day by moving up throughout and executing quick finishes.
Jackson Kay finished as the final Falcon to register a score as the seventh finisher amongst his teammates, running a new personal record time of 26:41.5 in the process. Kay's time stands as a personal record by 19 seconds, beating his time from earlier this year at the Salisbury XC Invite. Kay ran the entirety of his race with Coggins and Bauman before his two teammates broke off during the last mile, with Kay left to follow his teammates' surge to the finish to place 38th overall.
Tyler Billet was the eighth Falcon to finish on the day, registering a season-best time of 26:48.6. Billet ran very even splits for the two halves of his races, clocking a time of 13:25 for the first half and 13:23 for the second. Billet went out quickly in the race around the top four Falcons before finding himself equally between that pack and the group of Coggins, Bauman, and Kay behind around the halfway point. Billet rebounded from his pace in the third mile to finish with a last .97 mile split in a time of 5:08, his fastest segment of the entire race, to finish in 44th overall.
Lance Kauffman was the ninth Falcon across the line with a huge personal record time of 26:57.8, his first ever time under 27 minutes en route to shattering his previous personal record time by 44 seconds. Kauffman ran much of the race just behind the pack of Coggins, Bauman, and Kay, moving up very well throughout the race by tracking his teammates alongside a stellar close of 4:58 for his last .97 mile segment. Kauffman finished out his efforts on the day with a placement just inside the top 50 in 49th overall.
Sean Baxter rounded out the Falcons' top ten with another career performance, another theme on the day for the Falcons. Despite having a prior season best time of 28:30.5, Baxter shattered both that and his previous personal record time of 27:45.2 with a new personal record time of 27:07.7 in what stands as the best race of his collegiate career. Baxter ran much of his race in isolation from any teammates but used the competitors around him to push himself throughout all eight kilometers before being rewarded with an incredible performance and time.
Evan Sarkett also spent most of his race in isolation from any teammates, running a time of 27:22.3 that stands as another season best on the day for the Falcons by a margin of four seconds. Sarkett turned in an excellent negative split for his race overall, opening the first half with a time of 13:55.9 before finishing off with a second half of 13:26.
Zeke Colyer,
Gus Rouland, and
Josiah Carnwath began their race together with a cautious 5:37 first mile before shortly thereafter also being joined by teammate
Nathan Kimmel, forming a strong pack of four. The quartet came through the second mile with a time of 11:20 and three miles with a time of 17:05, with the four still sticking together through the four mile mark with a split of 22:42. Immediately after, Colyer and Rouland broke away from their teammates, with Colyer running a spectacular split of 4:53 for his last .97 mile segment and Rouland following close behind with a time of 4:57. Colyer finished with a time of 27:35.4, a season best by nearly a minute, with Rouland finishing close behind in a personal record time of 27:39.6, beating his previous best by over a minute. Kimmel also registered a personal best under 28 minutes with a time of 27:48.2, with Carnwath also turning in an excellent race with a personal record time of 28:05.0 after several of his previous races were marred by illness.
Ryan Klemick ran an excellent race in isolation from his teammates for much of the competition, finishing with a new personal record time of 28:23.3 in just his second max-effort race of the season.
Nathan Seibert finished close behind his fellow freshman and high school teammate with a time of 29:07.3, just narrowly eclipsing his previous best from Salisbury by six seconds.
Matthew Rush and
Daniel Satariano followed with respective times of 29:33.3 and 29:49.3, the fastest times since their season-openers at Salisbury for both Falcons.
Ethan Dell rounded out the Falcons' efforts on the day with a time of 30:58.5.
Up Next
The top 12 Falcons as determined by the aggregate of season performances will compete in two weeks on Saturday, November 2nd, at the Middle Atlantic Conference XC Championships, hosted at home by Messiah University. The entirety of the Falcons' efforts this season have been geared towards a top performance at the MAC XC Championships, with the Falcons hoping to improve on their third-place finish in the conference from last year.
