LOCK HAVEN, PA. - The Messiah Men's Cross Country Team wrapped up the 2024 season with a 7th place team finish at the NCAA DIII Mid-Atlantic Regional Meet on Saturday, Nov. 16th. The Falcons improved on their regional ranking of 8th to finish in 7th place out of 29 full scoring teams with a total of 224 points, a score that stands very similar to their total of 218 from last season's Regional Championships. The Falcons finished narrowly behind MAC foes Lebanon Valley College (5th place, 186 points) and Misericordia (6th place, 205 points), the same finishing order as in the MAC Championships two weeks ago, while also holding off every other MAC squad by a large margin. The Falcons' score benefitted from one top 20 finish alongside three closely packed runners inside the top 50, with the Falcons' #5 and #6 runners finishing strongly side-by-side to cement the team's score.
The Falcons took advantage of the cool, quick conditions on an extremely quick course to turn in a series of solid times, including two personal records from
John Condon and
Kaleb Kabakjian.
Louka Fetter's all-region (top 35) finish also served as a highlight on the day. The team also easily earned their fastest top five average time of the season today with an average of 25:48 and a total time of 2:08:52, besting their previous season best top five average time of 26:00 from the Aubrey Shenk Invitational.
Race Action
The top Falcon on the day was Junior
Louka Fetter, who finished in 20th place overall with a season-best time of 25:02.8. Fetter's placement of 20th just surpasses his 21st place finish in the Regional meet his freshman year, only falling short to his Nationals-qualifying 13th place finish during last year's edition of this meet. Fetter began the race quickly in an effort to put himself in a position to potentially extend his season, passing through the first mile in a personal-record pace time of 4:57 that still found him well back in the field in 39th. Fetter worked up his way very gradually throughout the field by running his three miles just slightly over 5 minutes each, finding himself in 21st place with a mile to go. Despite registering the fifth-fastest last 1.4k of the race out of the entire field, Fetter only passed one jersey to bring himself into 20th place overall and just a few seconds outside of breaking 25 minutes. Fetter ended up as the ninth individual finisher not a member of the two teams likely to go to Nationals - Carnegie Mellon and Johns Hopkins - while seven go to Nationals individually, placing him 7 seconds behind the final qualifying individual. Nevertheless, Fetter's time of 25:02 stands less than half a minute off his personal best, capping off an unlikely comeback after a summer fraught in injury and a total lack of training.
Junior
John Condon was the second Falcon finisher across the line, running a time of 25:35.1 to finish in 37th place overall. Condon's time stands as a personal best time by 0.5 seconds, besting his previous personal record of 25:35.6 from the Aubrey Shenk Invitational one month ago. Condon went out quickly with a first mile of 4:57.9, placing him just behind Fetter in 40th overall, and thereafter ran a very consistent race with regards to his placement relative to his competitors. Condon averaged roughly 5:10 for his three middle miles to hover between the mid 30s to mid 40s overall in the field before gaining ground with a last mile right around 5:00 and a very strong finishing straight, cementing his status in 37th place overall. Condon's performance represents an improvement on his 40th place at Regionals last season, bringing him just two places off an All-Region (top 35) finish that seems likely to be achieved in the future.
Freshman
Kaleb Kabakjian was the third Messiah runner on the day, finishing with a personal best time of 25:44.5 to take 41st place overall. Kabakjian's time was a personal record by 4 seconds, narrowly besting his 25:48 clocking at Salisbury that opened his season. Kabakjian ran an exceptionally smart race, crossing through the first mile in a time of 5:09 to find himself in 90th place and patiently moving up through the field throughout the rest of the race. Kabakjian ran exceptionally even splits around 5:09/mi, the overall average of his race, throughout, before finishing with a mile just over 5:00 flat to ensure his new personal record performance. Kabakjian finished as the highest placing freshman from the Middle Atlantic Conference in the race after finishing as the second highest freshman in the MAC two weeks ago, demonstrating strong improvement since that race. Kabakjian's 41st place finish in the Region stands as a very strong effort from the freshman, signaling greater improvements in the years to follow.
Kyle Costello was the final of the Falcons' front quartet to finish on the day, crossing the line in 47th place with a new season best time of 25:53.9. Costello went out very quickly with Fetter and Condon through the first mile, crossing the mat with a 4:58.2 clocking, and ran an extremely even race relative to his competitors for the rest of the 8k distance. Costello's finish serves as a slight improvement over his 49th-place finish at this edition of the Regional meet last year, an incredible feat given the struggle through injury that the fifth-year senior has endured during the past seven months.
Juniors
Tyler Billet and
Nathaniel Coggins finished side-by-side as the fifth and sixth Falcons on the day, with both registering the exact same time of 26:36.3 and Billet being given the nod by the timing system as the Falcons' fifth finisher. Billet and Coggins ran the entire race at each other's side with freshman teammate
Jackson Kay for company through the first four miles, with not a single second separating the two juniors at any of the five timing mats or the finish. The trio opened their race with a 5:15 first mile, placing them around 120th place overall and very deep within the mass of the field. The three moved up very well together with very even splits through the first four miles, after which the two juniors separated from their younger teammate. With a searing final stretch, the two finished together in 87th and 88th place with not even a tenth of a second being found to separate their times at the end. Remarkably, Billet's 87th-place finish exactly replicates his 87th-place finish from these Championships one year ago, while this race marked Coggins' first time competing for the Falcons at Regionals. Kay finished close behind the two with a time of 27:03.4. Billet's time of 26:36.3 also represents a season-best time, bringing the Falcons' total on the day up to two personal bests and three season bests out of seven racers.
What's Up Next
The 2024 NCAA DIII Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships marked the end of the Falcons' 2024 cross country season, with all athletes now moving on to compete in the 2024-25 track and field season. The Falcons' first meet will likely be in the first week in December, with some members of the cross country regional squad training through until that meet in order to register a quick time over the 3k or 5k distance. Other Falcons will rest up and recover in preparation for the indoor season to follow - another opportunity for all athletes to wear Messiah across their chests.
