KUTZTOWN, Pa. - On Friday, Feb. 21, the Messiah Men's Track and Field team split personnel between the Penn State Tune-Up Invitational and the Kutztown Golden Bear T&F Invitational, sending athletes to both events in a primary effort to chase fast times and strong performances at the former meet and MAC qualifying marks at the latter. Many Falcons also took the weekend off in preparation for Indoor MACs next week, with the Falcons collectively gearing up their performances for next week's competition.
 
Penn State Results
Six members competed at Penn State between the Mile and 800 Meter, with three contesting each event. The Mile took place first, with Louka Fetter toeing the line in the first heat and Kaleb Kabakjian and Kyle Costello following up from the second heat alongside S.W.I.F.T alumni Logan Horst.
 
Fetter ran a time of 4:14.37, a shocking time that stands as a personal record by nearly four seconds and elevates him from third to second on the Messiah All-Time Indoor Top Ten list, falling just 0.11 seconds short of Tyler Newhook's 2011 school record. Fetter went out quickly, splitting 64.1 for the first 400 meters and 2:08.98 through halfway, just ahead of pace to beat his old personal record of 4:18.22. Fetter continued on the same pace during his third 400 meter segment, splitting a time of 65.01, before picking it up during the penultimate lap and finishing with a searing 28.34 final lap split to move up from eighth to fourth in the field overall. Fetter's time serves as his first personal record on the track in nearly two years, a stunning return to form after a last year ravaged by constant injury.
 
In the second heat, the Falcons turned in several strong performances with Kaleb Kabakjian running a season- and collegiate-best time of 4:22.11, an improvement of over four seconds from his performance earlier in the year at Penn. The second heat went out a bit more cautiously than the first, with Kabakjian splitting a time of 2:13.64 through halfway and Kyle Costello just narrowly trailing his teammate with a 2:14 split. Kabakjian ran a very strong negative split, even seizing the lead of his heat with about 200 meters to go before finishing in third with a 2:08.47 second half and dueling Logan Horst to the line. The Falcon athlete of the past narrowly bested the Falcon athlete of the present, 4:21.96 to 4:22.11, with both turning in very strong performances. After going out strongly with the top group in the heat, Costello finished with a time of 4:32.63, about three seconds adrift of his season-best time of 4:29. 
 
John Condon also had an incredible race leading the charge for the Falcons in the 800 Meter Run, winning the unseeded sections of the 800 Meters outright with an indoor personal best time of 1:54.38, beating his old personal record time indoors by nearly two and a half seconds. Condon went out strongly but not too quickly, running a near-perfect split of 56.76 through the halfway mark. Condon held steady through his third lap, splitting a time of 29.06 in fourth, before making a strong move on the final lap to catch the leading trio around the final bend and surge into the lead through the home stretch. Condon's closing acceleration earned him a convincing win, finishing about 0.7 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, with a 28.57 final lap standing as easily the best in the field. In the same heat, Evan Sarkett went out with a strong first 400 meters of 57.50 and finished with a time of 2:00.40. From the second heat, Nathan Kimmel ran a very consistent race to finish just off his season best time of 2:02.07 with a time of 2:02.38.
 
Kutztown Results
At Kutztown, the rest of the Falcons turned in a number of strong performances in what ended up being a smaller and more relaxed environment. The 400 Meter Dash began track events on the day, with Sean Baxter and Will Xenakis dueling to the line for the win in the event, placing significant distance on all other competitors. Baxter earned the nod with a time of 53.17, finishing just ahead of Xenakis, whose time of 53.30 stands just a single hundredth off his personal best. Nathan Kopp finished in fifth overall with a time of 55.66, while Isaac Sobek finished one spot off his teammate with a 57.80 clocking. 
 
In the 55 Meter Dash, this meet's equivalency to the normally-contested 60 Meter Dash, Joshua Karyea ran a strong race to finish with a time of 6.87, a time that converts just adrift of his personal record in the 60 Meter Dash. Austin Grove had a similar performance relative to his own personal record, finishing with a time of 7.30.
 
The Falcons had a very numerous contingent in the Mile, with some very interesting racing strategies being employed and some Falcon racers going out very quickly in their races. Josh Bauman ended up leading the charge for Messiah in fourth place with a season-best time of 4:40.80, besting his time from last week's competition by over three seconds. Eli McClymont finished with a time of 4:49.79, placing just one spot behind Bauman in fifth in a small field littered with Falcons despite his exceptionally quick start. Matthew Rush and Tyler Billet rounded out the Falcon performances from the first heat, finishing with respective times of 4:57.36 and 5:02.79. The trio of Falcons from the second heat - Josiah Carnwath, Gus Rouland, and Nathan Seibert - all placed between McClymont and Rush in the finishing order, with Carnwath earning the heat win by a convincing five seconds in a personal best time of 4:50.91. Gus Rouland, after doing much of the heat's early leading, finished with a time of 4:55.44, just off his personal best. Nathan Seibert followed Rouland very closely across the finish line with a time of 4:55.87, almost identical to his personal best time.
 
In the absence of distance events or relays, the 200 Meter Dash was the final event with Falcon competitors, with Austin Grove representing as the lone athlete from Messiah in the day's final track event. Grove ran a very strong race, finishing with a time of 25.42, a personal record by about 0.3 seconds.
 
In The Field
 
Ben Reichenbach jumped very strongly in the High Jump, finishing with his second-highest height ever with a clearance at 1.90 meters (6' 2.75"), only behind his 1.94 meter clearance from last week's competition. Reichenbach jumped a very unique height progression on the day, taking a single clearance at 1.84 meters before passing 1.87 meters and clearing on his third attempt at 1.90 meters. Reichenbach took his next attempt at 1.96 meters after passing at 1.93 meters, taking three strong jumps before taking second place in the competition overall. Landon Kerr also jumped very strongly, finishing just a centimeter off his season best with a clearance at 1.74 meters (5' 8.5"). 
 
The Falcons also had a numerous contingent in the Pole Vault thanks to the efforts of several multi athletes, with Joshua Karyea finishing as the top Falcon with a height of 3.62 meters (11' 10.5"), narrowly off the MAC qualifying height in the event. Liam McGovern and Jed Colyer tied with top clearances at 3.02 meters (9' 10.75"), Colyer finishing just two centimeters off his personal best in the event. Ben Reichenbach earned his first collegiate clearance in the vault, clearing both 2.57 meters (8 '5.25") and 2.72 meters (8' 11") before bowing out of the competition at 2.87 meters (9' 5"). 
 
Zion Buck had perhaps the highlight performance on the day for the Falcons with a personal best distance of 6.76 meters (22' 2.25") in the long jump, eclipsing his old personal best mark by two centimeters and updating his own sixth-best mark on the Messiah Indoor Top Ten list. Buck's efforts earned him second in the competition overall. Jed Colyer and Ben Reichenbach, both multi athletes, registered strong performances in the event, with both finishing just behind their personal bests with respective marks of 5.82 meters (19' 1.25") and 5.50 meters (18' 0.5").
 
Zion Buck also returned to compete in the Triple Jump, also finishing in second place in the event amongst a four-person field with a distance of 13.31 meters (43' 8"). And in a mark of astounding consistency, Landon Kerr exactly duplicated his mark from last week's competition, finishing with a distance of 12.50 meters (41' 0.25"). 
 
The Falcons also performed well in the Shot Put, with Ted Lechthaler approaching the 14 meter mark with a best throw of 13.84 meters (45' 5"). Nathan Bowman was the second Falcon with a distance of 13.08 meters (42' 11"). Behind their teammates, five Falcons finished all together in the finishing order, with multi athlete Liam McGovern turning in another strong performance very close to his personal best with a mark of 11.64 meters (38' 2.25"). McGovern's mark narrowly surpassed that of freshman Jake Holland, who threw for a distance of 11.58 meters (38' 0"), with fellow freshman Anthony Russo just behind with a mark of 11.49 meters (37' 8.5"). In his final competition this season, Patrick Smith earned a personal best of 11.38 meters (37' 4"), while Ben Reichenbach earned a mark of 11.13 meters (36' 6.25") in his first collegiate attempt at the Shot Put.
 
Hoyt Lechthaler provided the Falcons' second of three Top Ten list marks on the day in the Weight Throw, narrowly finishing in second place in the event with a personal best distance of 16.34 meters (53' 7.5") to update his own second-place Messiah Indoor Top Ten performance by a margin of a quarter of a meter. Ted Lechthaler, in turn, provided the final, throwing a distance of 12.70 meter (41' 8") to update his old personal best mark of 12.63 meters (41' 5.25") and move him from being in a tie in eighth place on the Messiah Indoor Top Ten to holding the stand alone eighth-place performance. Jake Holland finished behind the duo of brothers with a mark of 10.70 meters (35' 1.25"). Anthony Russo was the final Falcon competitor in the event, throwing a top distance of 9.20 meters (30' 2.25"). 
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons will compete next weekend across Friday, February 28th, and Saturday, March 1st, at the Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, which mark both the culmination of the season and its conclusion as the Falcons look to peak and save their best performances for last. The MAC Championships will be hosted at the Plex on the campus of Alvernia University.
 

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