SALISBURY, Md. - The Messiah men's cross country team opened the 2024 season on Saturday, Aug. 31, at the Salisbury Fall Classic hosted by Salisbury University. The Falcons took advantage of the calm conditions and flat course to enjoy a strong first meet of the season. With a smaller competition than typical in cross country, the Falcons enjoyed a fun, and energetic competition, finishing in 5th as a team out of 6 teams with 119 team points. Messiah finished behind regional rival Salisbury University, who took 4th place with 98 points. The Falcons return to action on Friday, Sept. 13
th when they travel to Kutztown University for the DII/DIII Challenge, with action beginning at 5:00 p.m.
Race Action
The Falcons were led in the race by freshman
Kaleb Kabakjian, an exceptionally strong addition to the team, who finished in 12th place overall with a personal best time in the 8k of 25:48. Kabakjian ran together with teammate
John Condon through the first two miles before breaking away shortly before the third mile mark, coming through three miles in 15:40 and passing through the 5k mark in a split that stands just a few seconds off his high school 5k personal record. Kabakjian finished the race with an extremely impressive negative split, running 5:10, 5:09, and 4:59 for his final three mile segments to close out a convincing sub-26 race in his first ever 8k.
Condon continued his moment from early in the race and finished as the 2nd Falcon. Condon ran a strong opening two miles with Kabakjian and followed his teammate closely during the third mile with an excellent split of 5:13, coming through the three mile mark in 15:43. Condon carried on strongly during the final two miles as Kabakjian surged ahead, splitting 5:24 for the 4th mile and 5:07 for the final segment to finish with a time of 26:14. Condon's performance represents his 3rd fastest ever 8k behind two sub-26 performances during his sophomore year, indicating great things to come as the season progresses.Â
Tyler Billet finished as the 3rd Falcon across the line, with freshmen
Jackson Kay and
Bradley Kreider finishing 4th and 5th respectively amongst their teammates. Billet went out quickly with
Evan Sarkett, the two teammates sticking together through the first two miles and Sarkett still hanging on strongly with a three second gap at the 3 mile mark. After Kay and Kreider ran the first two miles together at a more cautious pace, Kay surged ahead to pass Sarkett and join Billet during the fourth mile, with Kreider tracking his fellow freshman's move and steadily moving up to join Sarkett through the latter stages of the race. Billet closed in an exceptional 5:16 last mile to finish with a time of 26:57, with Kay finishing close behind in a time of 27:00. Kreider also had a strong final mile to finish as the final scoring Falcon in a time of 27:18, with Sarkett finishing as the 6th Falcon across the line in a time of 27:26 after a 5:29 last mile.Â
Nathaniel Coggins' positioning shifted points for other teams, as he finished 7
th for the Falcons, with a time of 27:35, just four seconds off his personal best in the 8k from last year's season finale. Coggins began the race with a cautious first mile of 5:35 with teammates
Zeke Colyer and
Sean Baxter and moved up exceptionally throughout the race, catching
Lance Kauffman and
Josh Bauman, who went out much quicker, a short time after the third mile. Coggins ran an excellent last two miles, splitting times of 5:26 and 5:16, to finish a clear 7th on the team and narrowing the gap considerably to Sarkett ahead.Â
Kauffman and Bauman were the next Falcons to cross the line in 8th and 9th respectively amongst their teammates. After running together for the first mile, Kauffman began to separate himself a bit from his teammate, running strongly in isolation for most of the race before finishing with a time of 28:03. Bauman also carried on strongly while spending most of the race on his own, finishing with a time of 28:15.
Zeke Colyer rounded out the Falcons' top 10, running strongly and consistently throughout the race after Coggins' surge ahead with an excellent 5:26 close. Colyer finished with a time of 28:28 on the day.
A flock of Falcons ran together from the start, consisting of
Nathan Kimmel,
Josiah Carnwath,
Gus Rouland,
Matthew Rush,
Nathan Seibert,
Daniel Satariano, and
Ethan Dell. The pack stayed together with remarkable consistency during the first two miles before Carnwath, Rush, and Kimmel surged ahead together during the third mile. Carnwath and Kimmel were able to maintain the surge during the fourth mile, at one point joining and passing Colyer, before Kimmel outlasted his teammate to the finish with a time of 28:38. Carnwath followed very closely after with a huge personal best time of 28:39. Rush carried on strongly in isolation for the rest of the race before being caught at the finish by Rouland, with both running great times of 29:01 for Rouland and 29:02 for Rush.
Nathan Seibert and
Daniel Satariano finished closely after with respective times of 29:13 and 29:20. After going out quickly,
Sean Baxter found himself separated from Colyer and Coggins and ended up mixed in with this pack, finishing with a time of 29:30.
Ethan Dell had a strong first three miles before losing contact with some of his teammates, still finishing with a personal best time in the 8k of 30:37.
Ryan Klemick was the final Falcon to cross the line, finishing with a time of 35:43.
Up Next
After a strong first meet to the season, the Falcon will take next weekend off to train more together before returning to competition on Friday, Sept.13th. The Falcons will compete at Kutztown University's DII/DIII Challenge, a meet with strong competition from multiple NCAA divisions that represents a great opportunity for the Falcons to showcase their abilities with action set to begin at 5:00 p.m.Â
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