READING, Pa. - The Messiah Men's Track and Field team began 2026 with a fantastic competition on Saturday night at the Alvernia Winter Invitational. The Falcons benefitted from one school record and three event winners amongst an extremely competitive field across all events that featured a number of Division II and III schools as well as a number of unaffiliated racers. The Falcons also earned an additional 12 MAC qualifications and four new entries on the program top ten records in addition to those achieved at the first meet of the season in December, setting themselves up for success as the season continues.
The Falcons will return to action next weekend at the Coach I Invitational, hosted by Franklin & Marshall College on Saturday, January 24. The Falcons will look to build on their strong start to 2026 with another slate of fantastic performances as their season gets underway.Â
On the Track
Action on the track began with one of the highlights of the day, with the Falcons setting a new school record in the 4x800 Meter Relay with a time of 7:56.45, comfortably surpassing the old record of 7:59.29 from 2009.
Evan Sarkett kicked off the relay with an excellent split for the Falcons, running a time of 1:59.7 that was followed up by
John Condon's fantastic 1:57.9 split to bring the Falcons through halfway in a time of 3:57.65.
Louka Fetter's third leg split of 2:01.5 was strong enough to keep the Falcons in contention for the record, which
Sean Baxter emphatically earned for the Falcons with a searing 1:57.2 anchor that enabled the Falcons to improve upon the previous record by nearly three seconds.Â
The 5000 Meter Run was next on the track, with the Falcons led by the duo of
Micah Kao and
Ryan Klemick, who both qualified for MACs with indoor personal record performances. Kao finished with a time of 16:19.97 that equals his lifetime outdoor personal record, with Klemick two places behind with a time of 16:20.81. Sam Meyer also ran well for the Falcons in the longest event of the day, passing through 24 laps in a time of 17:14.48.
Liam McGovern had a fantastic performance in the 60 Meter Hurdles to lead the Falcons in the event, stopping the clock at a MAC-qualifying time of 9.23 that stands as a personal record by over a tenth of a second.
Ryan Mowery also qualified for MACs one place behind with a time of 9.24 in his collegiate debut. Multi athlete
Jed Colyer also finished with a personal record of 9.97 in the event.
Zach Schwartz led a contingent of Falcons in 60 Meter Dash with a time of 7.25, while
Valen Shrum-Groff finished close behind with a personal record time of 7.35, surpassing his old best by four hundredths of a second.
Dominic Lewis ran his first ever 60 meter race and finished with a time of 7.54 and was followed by
Cooper Schwartz, who stopped the clock at 7.69.
Jack Safer concluded the Falcons' efforts in the sprints with a time of 7.77.
Nathan Steen's fantastic close to win his heat of the mile was another highlight of the day, with the freshman running his last lap in a time of 29.74 en route to an indoor personal record time of 4:45.78.
Celyn Evans raced well for the Falcons in the mile with a time of 5:15.46, while
Kaiden Braught returned to racing with a time of 5:17.16.
The 4x200 Meter Relay was another highlight of the day, with the team of
Zach Schwartz,
Valen Shrum-Groff,
Zion Buck, and
Cooper Schwartz running a time of 1:35.77 to convincingly win their heat and run the No. 8 performance in program history. The Falcons' benefited from Buck's blazing 200 meter split of 23.21 on the third leg to place seventh overall in a field of ten teams, almost three seconds ahead of their nearest competitors in the heat.Â
Sean Baxter immediately followed up this impressive sprint performance with one of his own by winning the 400 Meter Dash, capturing the Falcons' second event win of the day after the 4x800 Meter. Baxter won the first heat of eight with a MAC-qualifying season best time of 51.92, a time just 0.03 adrift of his indoor personal best. No runners in the remaining heats were able to match Baxter's time, enabling the event's fourth seed to emerge the victor behind an incredible performance.
Will Xenakis also ran well to finish with a time of 52.90 in sixth place overall, while
Evan Sarkett finished with a time of 57.28.Â
John Condon returned from his stellar performance in the 4x800 Meter Relay to lead the Falcons in the open 800 Meter Run, taking third overall with a time of 1:58.31 in a hard second run of the day. Condon closed hard to move up from fifth to third over the final lap, splitting a sensational 27.95 for his final 200 meter in a tactical race to finish under two minutes.
Daniel Satariano was the next Falcon to finish, turning in a time of 2:04.54, a performance that just enabled him to surpass teammate
Nathaniel Coggins (2:04.99) in the closing stages of the race.
Larsen Cooper finished with a time of 2:10.31 in his 800 Meter debut as a Falcon, with
Nick Donohue (2:15.82) and
Caleb McInnes (2:21.96) also contesting the event.
Dominic Lewis was the top Falcon in the 200 Meter Dash with an indoor personal best time of 24.64 and was accompanied in the event by
Jack Safer, who finished with a time of 25.27.Â
The 3000 Meter Run yielded the Falcons their final event win of the day, with
Louka Fetter following up his 4x800 Meter performance from earlier in the day with a MAC qualifying time of 8:43.38. Fetter ran patiently behind the race leader before making a strong move with 300 meters to go, quickly distancing himself from his competitors and winning the race by five seconds with a 30.14 final lap. Behind,
Josiah Carnwath ran a fantastic race to set a new personal best by a margin of an incredible 36 seconds, qualifying for MACs with a 9:09.46 clocking behind a searing final kilometer of 2:56.
Samuel Hennett also snuck under the MAC qualifying time with a 9:10.51 performance.
Eli McClymont ran a great race for the Falcons to finish with a time of 9:24.13, just ahead of
Jackson Kay's season best of 9:27.90.
Matthew Rush also set a new personal record time of 9:44.56 despite running almost the entirety of the race without his shoe, as
Luke Acton (10:02.78) and
Samuel Mateer (10:06.43) also performed well for the Falcons with personal bests.
The Falcons fielded a distance squad for the 4x400 Meter Relay, the final track event of the day, with
Daniel Satariano,
Jackson Kay,
Larsen Cooper, and
Nathaniel Coggins running together for a time of 3:47.40, led by Coggins' team-best split of 55.5.
In the Field
Multi athlete
Jed Colyer was the Falcons' lone entrant in the High Jump, clearing a height of 1.60 meters (5' 3").
Zion Buck led a trio of Falcons in the Triple Jump with a top distance of 13.26 meters (43' 6"), a season best that represents his first time over 13 meters this season. Freshman
Joseph Dunbar also set a personal record behind with a distance of 12.03 meters (39' 5.75").
In similar fashion,
Zion Buck was the top Falcon in the Long Jump, setting a season best and MAC qualifying mark of 6.50 meters (21' 4"), his best performance in his four attempts. Multi athlete
Liam McGovern uncorked an incredible MAC-qualifying jump of 6.30 meters (20' 8") on his last attempt after having been so consistent near the six meter mark for the last several seasons, representing an incredible sudden improvement for the senior. Multi athlete
Jed Colyer and
Joseph Dunbar both finished with leaps of 5.71 meters (18' 8.75"), while
Declan Hsieh also earned a massive personal record of 5.55 meters (18' 2.5") that improves spectacularly on his previous collegiate performances.
Nathan Bowman returned from injury to throw an astounding new personal record of 15.76 meters (51' 8.5") in the Shot Put, a mark that improves his own No. 3 performance in program history and easily qualifies the sophomore for MACs. Bowman finished second amongst an extremely competitive field.
Ted Lechthaler finished with a season best throw of 13.76 meters (45' 1.75"), while
Luke Bosma almost achieved the MAC qualifying distance with a top throw of 12.12 meters (39' 10").
Jake Holland (10.70 meters, 35' 1.25"),
Gamaliel Perde (10.65 meters, 34' 11.25"), and
Anthony Russo (10.58 meters, 34' 8.5") also competed for the Falcons, with Perde setting a new personal record.
The final field event of the day saw another top ten mark for the Falcons, with graduate student
Hoyt Lechthaler improving upon his own No. 2 performance in program history with a 16.40 meters (53' 9.75") performance in the Weight Throw. Lechthaler now sits only 0.27 meters behind the school record of 16.67 meters (54' 8.25"), with his performance easily qualifying him for MACs and enabling him to finish second in the competition. Behind,
Ted Lechthaler finished with a personal best of 13.63 meters (44' 8.75") in the weight, vaulting him up from eighth to fifth on the Falcons' all-time top ten list and qualifying him for MACs.
Jake Holland finished with a throw of 11.37 meters (37' 3.75"), while
Gamaliel Perde set his second personal best of the day with a distance of 10.49 meters (34' 5").
Up Next
The Falcons will return to action next weekend at the Coach I Invitational, hosted by Franklin & Marshall College on Saturday, January 24. The Falcons will look to build on their strong start to 2026 with another slate of fantastic performances as their season gets underway.Â
