MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - The Messiah Men's Track and Field performed very well at the Millersville Metrics Invitational, hosted across two days on Friday night and throughout the day Saturday. Conditions on Friday were ideal for distance racing, but Saturday was accompanied by cooler temperatures and windy gusts, meaning that conditions were not conducive to strong performances in a number of events on the second day of competition. Nevertheless, the Falcons competed very well and earned the meet win as a team, edging past Shippensburg (97 points) in 2nd and Eastern (87 points) in 3rd to take the win with 107 points. The Falcons also enjoyed 12 new MAC qualifications and four new entries on the Messiah Outdoor All-Time Top Ten list, making the most of a lower-energy meet to perform very well across both days.
On The Track
The Falcons had only competitors on the track in the 5000m on Friday night, with six Messiah runners toeing the line for the longest event of the weekend.
Josiah Carnwath took top honors amongst Falcons to finish in 2nd place overall with a time of 16:09.86, just four seconds off the personal best time he set last week at Widener. Carnwath ran much of his race with
Kyle Costello, who led the Falcon charge to stick with the eventual winner of the race as much as possible, before surging ahead in the final mile and finishing convincingly as the top Falcon.
Ryan Klemick ran a strong race to finish next amongst Falcons with a time of 16:24.12, running cautiously at the start of the race along with Nathan Siebert and moving up well throughout the second half to finish in 6th place overall. Siebert finished close behind with a time of 16:27.78, also narrowly behind his personal best.
Kyle Costello was the next Falcon across the line, running the first half of the race at 16 flat pace near the MAC-qualifying time of 15:55 before stopping the clock at 16:30.88.
Lance Kauffman and
Zeke Colyer rounded out the Falcons' efforts, running almost the entirety of the race today and finishing with times of 16:37.68 and 16:38.10.
Track events on Saturday began with the prelims of the men's 110m hurdles, where multi athletes
Gavin Dunkerton and
Drew Lebo led the Falcons' efforts with a couple of personal records. Dunkerton set a lifetime best in the event with a time of 17.04, while
Drew Lebo ran his fastest time over hurdles of collegiate height with a time of 17.12. The duo finished 8th and 9th overall in the preliminary round, with Dunkerton being the final athlete to qualify for the final later on in the day.
John Steele continued his return from injury with a time of 17.47, while
Jed Colyer joined his multi teammates in also setting a personal record time of 18.92 in the event.
Liam McGovern was the final Falcon finisher in the hurdles, doing his best to navigate the slippery track with a 20.09 clocking.
The Falcons had a remarkable three competitors in the 100m, with Joshua Karyea taking top honors with a 12.08 clocking in cold, wet conditions not at all conducive for sprinting.
Austin Grove had his outdoor debut in the 100m with a great performance in a time of 12.23, while
Dominic Lewis also made his track and field debut for the Falcons, stopping the clock at 12.52.
The Falcons had a large contingent in the 1500m, led by an event win from freshman
Kaleb Kabakjian in his outdoor debut with a MAC-qualifying time of 4:04.31. The race went out very slowly, with Kabakjian taking a tentative lead after a steady first 300m by the first, with no runner eager to take charge of the race in the windy conditions. Kabakjian slowly ramped up the pace throughout the race, splitting 68.8 and 64.7 for his second and pentultimate laps, respectively, before dropping the field for good with a final lap of 59.7.
Bradley Kreider also ran a great race to qualify for MACs with a time of 4:09.22, a time that converts to roughly equal his high school best. Kreider also closed very well with a 62.0 last 400m split, finishing in 6th overall in the race and within a tenth of a second of a familiar competitor in 5th.
Nathan Kimmel finished directly behind Kreider in the finishing order, running very close to his personal best with a time of 4:12.13.
Josh Bauman and
Daniel Satariano joined their teammates in the fast heat, turning in season-best times of 4:16.15 and 4:19.88.
Matthew Rush and
Jackson Kay culminated the Falcons' efforts in the second heat, running respective times of 4:23.03 and 4:25.45 in what stands as a personal best for the former.
The Falcons had a single competitor in the men's 400m, with
Isaac Sobek running his second-best time this season and stopping the clock at 56.72. The final of the men's 110m hurdles took place afterwards, with
Gavin Dunkerton finishing with a time a huge personal record time of 16.40 that easily qualifies him for MACs, an incredible feat for a multi athlete. Despite qualifying as the last athlete into the final, Dunkerton finished in 6th place out of 8 in the final behind a significant personal record effort.
The Falcons had a strong contingent in the 800m, making up the first four finishers out of six and being led by a second event win on the day behind the efforts of
John Condon. Condon took out the fast heat and steadily wound up the pace throughout, splitting 58.0 and then 57.4 to pull away convincingly in the last 100m and finish with a MAC-qualifying time of 1:55.43.
Sean Baxter was the second Falcon across the line in 4th place overall, having pushed Condon on his shoulder throughout the second lap and holding on to finish just ahead of teammate
Evan Sarkett. The duo finished very close together with respective times of 1:57.12 and 1:57.26, a season-best and MAC-qualifying time for the former.
Louka Fetter was the final Falcon to qualify for MACs in the event in 6th place overall from the prior slower heat, largely running alone throughout the second half to finish just off his personal record with a time of 1:57.78.
Eli McClymont also competed in the same heat, finishing with his second-best time effort behind a 2:04.29 effort. Senior
Aidan Pryor remarkably finished with his second personal record in the 800m in a row, knocking just over a tenth of his time from the previous week to stop the clock at 2:05.29.
Nathan Kopp also finished with a season-best time of 2:09.14.
The Falcons had a strong duo in the 400m hurdles, with
Adam Hostetler finishing in second place overall with a lifetime best of 57.96 in the hurdles.
Will Xenakis also improved on his time from the previous week by over a second with a personal record 59.03 clocking, taking fourth overall.
The Falcons had a single competitor in the 200m in the form of
Austin Grove, who ran very well to finish with a personal record time of 24.72 that significantly improves on his 200m times from indoor on a chilly and windy day.
The Falcons also represented strongly in the final track event of the day, the 4x400m relay. The Falcons fielded three teams, placing first and third overall behind the efforts of the "A" and "B" Teams. The "A" Team, made up of
John Condon,
Sean Baxter,
Evan Sarkett, and
Will Xenakis, held off Eastern University for the event win with a time of 3:24.99, with all runners splitting very consistent 50- or 51-second 400m splits. The Falcons' "B" team, made up of
Daniel Satariano,
Nathan Kimmel,
Kaleb Kabakjian, and
Adam Hostetler, finished with a time of 3:32.88 behind Kabakjian's team-best split of 51.7. The Falcons' "C" team finished with a 3:43.10 to round out the Falcons' efforts on the track.
In The Field
The hammer throw was the lone field event to be contested on Friday, with the Falcons performing exceptionally well in the event.
Hoyt Lechthaler led the charge for Messiah, finishing in 4th place overall with a personal best throw of 49.11m (161' 1") that vaults him up to second on the Messiah All-Time Outdoor Top Ten list, now just sitting behind the incredible 55.49m (182' 1") school record.
Ted Lechthaler also threw very well in the Hammer, finishing just 10 centimeters outside of a placement on the All-Time Top Ten list with a personal and MAC-qualifying record heave of 37.31m (122' 05").
Jake Holland threw a distance of 31.29m (102' 08") in his first hammer competition, finishing just short of MAC qualifying.
Anthony Russo was the final Falcon to compete, finishing with a distance of 24.27m.
On Saturday, the field events opened up with another throwing competition in the form of the discus, where
Luke Bosma made his debut with a stunning MAC-qualifying throw of 44.51m (146' 0") that places him 5th on the Messiah All-Time Outdoor Top Ten list, a personal record of roughly three meters.
Hoyt Lechthaler finished just behind with a slight personal best throw of 43.74m (143' 6") that updates his own 7th-best Messiah All-Time Outdoor Top Ten list, his second change to the Top Ten List on the weekend.
Jake Holland also convincingly qualified for MACs with a personal best throw of 40.07m, as did
Liam McGovern, who finished just a few centimeters off his personal best with a mark of 36.10m.
Gavin Dunkerton and
Anthony Russo also competed in the event, with Dunkerton registering a season-best mark of 32.53m and Russo a personal best throw of 32.05m.
The Falcons had a duo represent in the long jump, with
Liam McGovern taking top honors with a solid jump of 5.98m (19' 7.5") and finishing just two centimeters off MAC qualification.
Declan Hsieh also finished with a mark of 4.77m (15' 7.75").
In the pole vault,
Drew Lebo secured his first collegiate clearance in route to taking top honors amongst his teammates with a top clearance at 3.65m (11' 11.75"), just a few inches off of MAC qualification. Close behind, teammates
Gavin Dunkerton and Joshua Karyea finished with a top clearance at 3.50m (11' 5.75"), while
Jed Colyer took three strong attempts at a would-be personal record 3.20m bar and will search for a clearance at a future competition.
Ted Lechthaler had another standout performance on the weekend for the Falcons in the shot put, throwing an outdoor personal best distance of 14.45m (47' 5") to update his own 3rd-placed entry on the Messiah All-Time Outdoor Top Ten list.
Jake Holland improved upon his performance last weekend to qualify for MACs in the event with an outdoor personal best put of 11.81m (38' 9").
Anthony Russo also competed in the shot put, registering a top mark of 10.91m (35' 9.5").
In the triple jump,
Zion Buck earned a third event win on the weekend for the Falcons with a top MAC-qualifying jump of 13.60m (44' 7.5"), while
Jacob Cramer also performed very well to place fifth overall in the event with a MAC-qualifying leap of 13.11m (43' 0.25"), his best outdoor jump as a Falcon.
Events in the field concluded with the men's javelin throw, which finished a top Falcon finish from
Nathaniel Leitzel in his season debut with a personal best throw of 39.83m (130' 8").
Luke Bosma finished very close behind with a throw of 39.61m (129' 11"), while multi athlete
Drew Lebo finished with a distance of 26.21m (86' 0").
What's Up Next
The Messiah Men's Track and Field team will return to action next weekend at the Messiah Multi and Invitational, which will be hosted across three days on April 10th-12th at the Starry Outdoor Track. The Falcons will look to perform their best especially for their home meet and looking forward to hosting roughly 20 different teams for the competition next week.
