READING, Pa. - The Messiah Men's Track and Field team performed excellently across two tough days of competition at the 2025 Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships, finishing in second place as a team with a point total of 103 points, just 15 points behind winner Lebanon Valley College and narrowly finishing ahead of both Widener (98 points) and Misericordia (96 points) to match their pre-championships predicted finish in second and improve significantly upon both their sixth-place finish indoor last year and their ninth-place finish last year outdoors. The Falcons benefited from two gold medals - one in the Distance Medley Relay and one in the 3000 Meter Run - alongside two silver medals and four bronzes to earn significant points from stellar performances across the weekend. The Falcons also registered an incredible 13 new performances on the Messiah Indoor All-Time Top Ten list, allowing them to achieve a podium finish in second as a team and walk away from the weekend very proud of their accomplishments.
 
On The Track
Action on the track on Friday to open the meet began with the 4000 Meter Distance Medley Relay, where the Falcons fielded a very strong squad of Kaleb Kabakjian, Adam Hostetler, Evan Sarkett, and John Condon that entered the meet with a strong possibility of winning alongside Lebanon Valley College's quartet. Kabakjian went through cautiously with the field through the first 800 meters of his opening 1200 meter leg before dropping the hammer in the last two laps, running a 59 second last 400 meter split. Kabakjian's run gave the Falcons a one second gap to Misericordia behind and multiple seconds on every other time at the hand-off, with a split of 3:07 standing as an extremely strong opening leg. 
 
Adam Hostetler took the baton for the 400 meter in a good position and continued to hold the lead coming through halfway before being slightly overtaken at the hand-off by Misericordia's 400 meter leg, handing off roughly equal to Evan Sarkett on the 800 meter leg with a 52.8 split. Sarkett's leg was the crucial piece for the Falcons, with the 800 meter specialist passing Misericordia on the first lap and then expanding his lead through the remaining three laps, splitting a stellar time of 1:57 all alone and giving the Falcons a five second gap ahead of LVC in second heading into the lap leg. John Condon took the baton and set off with a swift opening 400 meter of 63 seconds, but his gap was narrowed quickly from three seconds 400 meters in to two seconds at halfway and then just one second with 400 meters to go behind the heroic efforts of Rory Lieberman, LVC's star anchor. With 400 meters to go, however, Condon began his kick, running a 32 and then 31 second final 200 meters to expand his lead to the finish and win by nearly four seconds. The Falcons' excellent finishing time of 10:16.46 stood as a MAC Championship meet record and fourth all-time for Messiah, starting the meet off excellently with a gold medal, 10 points, and a team win.
 
The 5000 Meter Run was the next event on the track with Falcon competitors, and hopes of scoring rested on Louka Fetter, who earned a silver medal in the same event two years ago at Indoor MACs. Kyle Costello and Ryan Klemick were also entered in the competition, with the former in the second and faster heat and the latter in the opening slower heat. Klemick ran a personal best time of 16:22.00 in the first heat, surpassing his previous best by nearly three seconds. In the fast heat, the opening pace was very honest, and the race was strung out quickly, with Fetter finding himself isolated in second place after the halfway stage of the race. Fetter held on in isolation from any competitors for the rest of the race, earning his second silver medal in the 5000m and 8 team points with a season-best time of 15:08.35, over performing his seeded placement of third. Kyle Costello went out quickly near Fetter and ended up with a time of 16:07.65.
 
On Saturday, action on the track opened for the Falcons with the Mile, where Kaleb Kabakjian was entered as the Falcons' best hope of scoring and possibly medaling with Kyle Costello also standing a chance of scoring. The race went out very slowly, with the field passing through all together in a glacial time of 2:19 before a move up at the front of the race was made. Costello and Kabakjian ran together briefly in fifth and sixth place in an effort to cover the move, with Kabakjian making more headway and attaching himself to the lead breakaway group of four with an incredible 29.2 penultimate lap. Kabakjian managed to pass one body before the finish to place fourth with a sensational 2:19 / 2:03 split, earning five team points. Costello had a swift last lap of 31.1 and finished just outside of scoring in ninth place with a very strong race.
 
The Falcons next had a competitor in the 400 Meter Dash, where Sean Baxter ran an incredible race to win the opening heat of five with a huge personal best of 51.89, easily surpassing his old indoor personal best of 52.65 and lifetime outdoor best of 52.44. In addition to placing him eighth on the Messiah Indoor All-Time Top Ten list, Baxter's time held up throughout the next four heats in a podium position, placing him eighth overall in the competition and earning one team point.
 
The 800 Meter Run featured a trio of Falcons, with Daniel Satariano taking his place in the slower opening heat and John Condon and Evan Sarkett taking their places in the final fast scoring heat after their heroics the previous evening in the Distance Medley Relay. Satariano began the event very well for the Falcons, taking a convincing win in heat one with an indoor personal best time of 2:02.57 behind a very strong last lap of 30.3. The fast heat opened up very tactically, just as the Mile had, with the front group splitting a time of 59-mid through the first 400 meters. Evan Sarkett had a very strong close, finishing out his race with splits of 29.0 and 28.5 to place a well-earned fourth with a comfortable gap back to fifth. John Condon preserved after an exhausting DMR leg from the previous day, holding off two competitors and closing in under 29 seconds to earn sixth place and three team points with a time of 2:57.90 in a strong overall event for the Falcons.
 
The 3000 Meter Run that took place afterwards was perhaps one of the highlights of the meet for the Falcons, with Louka Fetter serving again as the Falcons' hopes for points in the event following up his efforts from the previous night in the 5000 Meter Run. In the opening heat of the 3000 Meter, Kyle Costello and Bradley Kreider took their places in what stood as the former's third race of the weekend and the latter's second hard race this season after a lengthy bout of injury. Kreider went out strongly with a 4:49 opening mile - right around 9:00 pace - before ending up with a time of 9:20.12, with Costello close behind in a time of 9:31.31. In the fast heat, the 3000 Meter looked much more like the 5000 Meter than the Mile or the 800 Meter, with the same athlete taking out the race in a respectable and honest but not blazing pace. A large group remained intact through a very consistent opening 1K split in 2:55, with the group being whittled down to only four with a 5:50 2K time after another 2:55 split. The pace turned from 35s to 34s as the laps counted down and the group numbered only three, including Fetter, with the other two competitors fighting for the lead multiple times in the last several laps. With 250 meters to go, Fetter made his move out into lane three after being tucked behind the leaders for the entire race, immediately opening up a gap through the bell and expanding it to the finish with a blazing final 200 meters of 28.19, crossing the line with a gap of over a second and earning his first-ever MAC championship gold medal. Fetter's finishing time of 8:33.82 stood, incredibly, as not only a new personal best on a flat track but also a new MAC Championship meet record and a new school record, bettering his own mark of 8:33.94 from two years ago by the slimmest of margins. 
 
Just two relay races - the 4x800 Meter Relay and the 4x400 Meter Relay to close out the meet - remained as running events, and the Falcons ran incredibly in both to earn bronze medals in third places in both races. In the 4x800 Meter Relay, the Falcons fielded a very tired squad of Evan Sarkett on lead off, Kaleb Kabakjian on the third leg, and John Condon on anchor, joined by senior Nathan Kimmel on the second leg, who had been kept fresh all weekend. After solid opening legs from Sarkett and Kimmel, the clock read 4:05.9, with Kabakjian receiving the baton in fourth with a comfortable gap up ahead to the medals. Kabakjian ran an incredible leg, splitting 1:58.52 to bring the Falcons into third place and pass the DeSales team and putting the Falcons in a position to strike up ahead. Condon ran an incredible leg, faster than his performance in the open 800 Meter several hours before, holding off DeSales' anchor and earning third place and bronze medals for the team. Condon's time of 1:57.88 brought the Falcons to a swift finishing time of 8:02.30, placing fourth all-time for Messiah.
 
The 4x400 Meter Relay had nearly identical success, with a team of Zion Buck, Will Xenakis, Kaleb Kabakjian, and Sean Baxter running incredibly across the board to deliver another bronze medal for the Falcons with a time of 3:29.35, also good for fourth all-time in Messiah history. Buck persevered through his earlier efforts in the Long Jump and Triple Jump to split a great time of 52.52 for the Falcons on lead off, handing off the baton to fellow freshman Xenakis in fifth. Xenakis ran an unbelievable leg, splitting times of 24.00 and 27.36 on his two 200 meter legs to split a time of 51.36, bringing the Falcons all the way up into second. Kaleb Kabakjian, in his fourth event of the weekend right after the 4x800 Meter Relay with barely any time to recover, ran a sensational split of 52.65 to keep the Falcons in second. Sean Baxter took the baton and ran an excellent split of 52.83, a great time after his efforts from earlier in the meet. Baxter was passed by both Stevenson and the unstoppable anchor leg of Samuel Knowles into fourth, but the result for Widener was not to stand due to disqualification and the Falcons earned a bronze medal as a result with an incredible time and four incredible splits.
 
In The Field
 
The Falcons' efforts in the field events began with Hoyt Lechthaler's efforts in the Weight Throw, with the senior throwing a distance of 15.26 meters (50' 1") on his second throw that stood as his best throughout the competition. Lechthaler finished in fifth place, earning four team points for the Falcons and starting off the competition well with a great scoring effort. Behind, the other Falcons also performed very well, with Jake Holland throwing a huge personal best distance of 12.58 meters (41' 3") that places him 10th on the Messiah Indoor All-Time list. Ted Lechthaler also threw a distance of 12.33 meters (40' 5"), rounding out a strong trio for the Falcons.
 
The Long Jump also took place on Friday night, with Zion Buck over performing in the event with an incredible personal best jump of 6.82 meters (22' 4.5"), placing him in a tie for fourth on the Messiah Indoor All-Time list, earning him third and a bronze medal in the competition. Jacob Cramer also had a strong season-best jump of 6.27 meters (20' 6.75").
 
Saturday in the field opened up with a repeat of Buck's efforts from the previous night in the Triple Jump, with the freshman battling through injury to take fourth in the competition with a jump of 14.00 meters (45' 11.25") in the final round, his second-best jump ever. Buck improved steadily throughout the competition, opening with a jump of 13.40 meters before improving to 13.64 meters, 13.75 meters, and then finally a huge improvement with 14.00 meters to move all the way up to fourth in the standings. Jacob Cramer also performed wonderfully in the event, jumping his further distance as a Falcon and in several years with a leap of 13.47 meters (44' 2.25") in the second round. Cramer had an incredible consistent set of jumps, jumping 13.47 meters, 13.40 meters, 13.40 meters, and 13.43 meters from rounds two through five. Senior Landon Kerr also set a new personal best in his last-ever competition, jumping a distance of 13.08 meters (42' 11"). 
 
The Shot Put was equally as exciting, with Nathan Bowman and Ted Lechthaler representing the Falcons' hopes of medaling or scoring in the stacked event. Lechthaler stood as the Falcons' best chance early in the competition, spending much of the competition in a medal-winning spot behind his first-round throw of 14.43 meters (47' 4"), a new personal best. Nathan Bowman also snuck into the final in ninth place with a first-round throw of 13.37 meters, a bit off his best, but good enough to earn three more throws by just a single centimeter. Given new life with this second opportunity, Bowman uncorked an unbelievable throw of 14.89 meters (48' 10.25") to move him up into a medal-winning position with a new personal best time. Bowman's mark held up good for third place in the competition as well as an adjustment to his own Messiah All-Time Indoor Top Ten third-best throw. Close behind, Lechthaler finished in fifth place with a best throw of 14.53 meters (47' 8"), also an adjustment to his own fourth-best throw on the Messiah Indoor Top Ten lis and a personal best. Further down in the finishing order, Anthony Russo finished with a mark of 11.75 meters and Jake Holland had a best throw of 11.55 meters.
 
In the High Jump, favorite Ben Reichenbach was disrupted significantly with a scheduling conflict with his competition in the Heptathlon, but still managed to earn points in seventh place and a best jump of 1.83 meters (6' 0"). Landon Kerr tied his own personal best in what stood as a great meet for the senior, jumping a height of 1.78 meters (5' 10"). 
 
Multi Competition
 
The Falcons also benefited from an incredibly strong quartet in the Heptathlon, with the squad earning the Falcons a total of 19 points across the event, finishing in second, fourth, fifth, and seventh place. Ben Reichenbach took top honors for the Falcons in the event in second place, earning eight points for the Falcons and showing incredible perseverance in frantically alternating between the Multi and the High Jump on the second day of competition. Reichenbach had an incredible competition, setting new personal bests in six of the seven events of the Multi, and coming just a single centimeter off his best in the High Jump. Reichenbach's gutsy personal best time of 2:56.27 in the 1000 Meter Run, which came just minutes after two jumps at 6' 1" in the High Jump, cemented his placement in second with a stunning point total of 4380, placing him third on the Messiah Indoor All-Time Top Ten list. Reichenbach set personal bests in the 60 Meter Dash (7.43), Long Jump (5.77m), Shot Put (11.93m), 60 Meter Hurdles (9.18), Pole Vault (3.00m), and 1000 Meter Run (2:56.27) alongside his aforementioned performance in the High Jump, an incredible assortment of performances for the freshman.
 
Gavin Dunkerton, the senior defending bronze medalist in the event, set a new personal best in the Multi with a point total of 4268 to finish in fourth place overall and earn five points for the Falcons. Dunkerton's point total of 4268 also placed him fifth all-time in Messiah history on the Indoor Top Ten list, an incredible feat for the senior. Dunkerton set a personal record in the opening event of the competition - a time of 7.41 in the 60 Meter Dash - and finished very close to his personal best in every other event to set a new overall Heptathlon personal best, a great conclusion to the senior's illustrious indoor career.
 
Liam McGovern had an excellent competition for the Falcons as well, finishing just one place behind Dunkerton in fifth with a point total of 4158 points, another personal best that places him tenth on the Messiah Indoor All-Time Top Ten list. McGovern set personal bests in four events en route to his scoring performance, with his performances in the 60 Meter Dash (7.54), High Jump (1.72m), 60 Meter Hurdles (9.37), and Pole Vault (3.30m) standing as lifetime bests alongside an impressive Long Jump (6.09m) and 1000 Meter Run (3:06.08) that stand just a shade outside of his personal bests in each event. 
 
Jed Colyer rounded out the Falcons' Multi efforts for the meet, setting an excellent personal best score of 3728 points to place seventh and earn two team points. Colyer set personal records in four events - the 60 Meter Dash (7.45), Shot Put (11.16m), Pole Vault (3.20m), and 1000 Meter Run (3:07.65) - en route to an overall Heptathlon personal best, an incredible scoring effort for the freshman.
 
What's Up Next
 
The Falcons, buoyed by their incredible efforts in this weekend's Indoor MAC Championships, will open their outdoor season at the Danny Curran Invitational at the end of the month. For now, the Falcons will be content to rest up after an exhausting championship weekend and reset for the season to follow ahead, with great performances sure to follow after such a great conclusion to the Indoor Season.

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