KUTZTOWN, Pa. - The Messiah Men's cross country team traveled to Kutztown University for the DII/DIII Challenge on Friday evening. The Falcons embraced the rolling hills of the course on a warm, sunny day to turn in a series of great performances that set them up very well for continued improvement and success as the season progresses. The men finished fourth out of 13 teams with a team score of 109, edging out last year's conference champions DeSales by four points. The Falcons were the top placing Divison III team, finishing behind Shippensburg (15 points), host Kutztown (81 points), and Lock Haven (86 points).
Kaleb Kabakjian led the Falcons for the second meet in a row, finishing 10th in a field of 118 runners with a time of 27:06. In his first race of the season,
Louka Fetter turned in an impressive time of 27:30, finishing 23rd.
The Falcons will return to action next at the Messiah University Invitational on September 28th in two weekends, where many MAC teams will be hosted by the Falcons in what serves as a preview for the site of this year's MAC Championships.
Race Action
Repeating his efforts from two weeks ago at Salisbury, freshman
Kaleb Kabakjian once again finished as the top Falcon, traversing the Kutztown course in a time of 27:06 to finish in 10th place overall amongst great competition. Kabakjian began patiently alongside teammates
Louka Fetter and
Tyler Billet before working his way up to join
John Condon, who led off the race as the first Falcon. Kabakjian broke away from Condon around the two-mile mark and ran very even splits throughout the rest of the race, trailing towards the back of the large lead pack for most of the rest of the race. Kabakjian finished very strongly with a final mile of 5:07 over the hills, cementing his placing finish by ending up within the top 15, earning himself a t-shirt for his efforts on the day.
Louka Fetter was the second Falcon across the line in his return from injury, far exceeding expectations with very little training. Fetter began the race with Kabakjian through the first mile before finding
Tyler Billet towards the end of the first split right around the time that Kabakjian surged ahead. Fetter and Billet were joined shortly thereafter by
Bradley Kreider and
Jackson Kay, with the quartet running with each other through the first three miles of the race. Fetter and Kreider ran extremely consistent splits right around 5:30/mi and began to pull away from Kay and Billet while maintaining the same pace, passing teammate
John Condon a bit past halfway in the race. Fetter and Kreider worked together extremely well during the final two miles of the race, with each taking portions of the race as they forged ahead in the large gap between packs without many runners on the course. Fetter surged ahead with half a kilometer to go and finish with a time of 27:30 in his debut for the season, while Kreider finished very close behind with a time of 27:39. Notably, Kreider finished just 18 seconds behind his debut 8k time of 27:18 from the Salisbury Invitational two weeks ago, an incredibly small difference in time given the huge disparity between the courses.
Jackson Kay was the fourth Falcon across the line after Fetter and Kreider, catching
John Condon around the three mile mark while also surging ahead of Billet, who had accompanied him during the first three miles of the race. Kay continued on strongly to the finish and brought Condon along with him, with both enduring the last two miles of the course as Condon narrowly trailed Kay. Kay finished as the top of the duo in a time of 28:03, while Condon finished close behind with a time of 28:08 to finish fifth on the team as the final contributor to the team score.
Nathaniel Coggins ran an extremely strong race to finish as the sixth Falcon on the day, turning in an excellent time of 28:17 on a challenging course. Coggins ran very even splits through the course of the race, beginning his race with
Lance Kauffman,
Josh Bauman,
Zeke Colyer, and
Kyle Costello. Coggins broke away from his pack just after reaching the second mile, also passing
Evan Sarkett shortly before the third mile mark. Coggins ran very well in isolation from any teammates during the second half of the race before catching and passing
Tyler Billet during the last mile, maintaining his gap to the finish to place sixth amongst his teammates. Billet finished shortly after, ending up with a time of 28:23 to place seventh amongst his teammates on the day.
Josh Bauman was the next Falcon to cross the line, finishing in 8th amongst his teammates with a time of 28:33. Bauman had Costello and Kauffman for company through two miles and Costello through three before breaking free of his teammates and surging ahead on his own during the fourth mile. Bauman carried on strongly in isolation, closing the gap to Billet significantly during the final mile to finish 10 seconds behind his fellow captain. Costello was the next Falcon to finish after venturing out a few seconds ahead of his teammates in his pack during the first few miles before being reeled in by Bauman. Apart from finding teammate
Evan Sarkett during the final mile, Costello ran well in isolation from any teammates to finish as the ninth Falcon with a time of 28:49. Sarkett finished soon after to round out the top ten for the Falcons on the day, crossing the line with a time of 29:06.
Sarkett narrowly held off
Zeke Colyer, who finished just a few seconds behind with a time of 29:10 after a very strong final mile. Colyer ran with teammate
Lance Kauffman for the first four miles before pulling away during the final few minutes, with Kauffman finishing behind with a time of 29:21.
The remaining six Falcons who raced on the day opened their race together through the opening mile before significant fracturing occurred during the second, with
Nathan Kimmel and
Sean Baxter surging ahead of their teammates in the second mile. Baxter continued throughout the race with very even splits, running in isolation from any teammates but splitting each mile right around 5:50 to end with a time of 29:51. Kimmel was the next Falcon across the line in a time of 30:34, narrowly holding off teammate
Gus Rouland's late surge that brought him within six seconds of Kimmel after closing down on a half-minute gap between the two at the fourth mile. Rouland crossed the line in a time of 30:40, with
Nathan Seibert close behind in a time of 30:57. To round out the Falcons' efforts,
Matthew Rush finished with a time of 31:45 and
Josiah Carnwath crossed the line with a time of 34:08.
What's Up Next
The Falcons will compete next on their home course at the Messiah Invitational, which will be hosted two weekends away on Saturday, September 28th. With Messiah also hosting the Middle Atlantic Conference XC Championships later this season, many teams in the MAC will be in attendance for the Messiah Invitational in order to preview the course before the championships. The rolling hills and steep trail climbs of Messiah's course promise to stand as a grueling obstacle for all competitors, with the site ready to serve as an excellent conference preview. The Falcons will look to harness the progress they made at today's race, also over a somewhat challenging course, in order to perform their best in two weeks' time and set themselves up for success later in the season.
