LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Messiah Men's Track and Field team participated in two different competitions across Friday night, with the majority of the team heading to Bucknell University for the Bucknell Tune-Up. A select group of Falcons also travelled to Penn State University for the Penn State Tune-Up in order to take advantage of the deep fields, intense competition, and banked track. Across both meets, the Falcons earned five new entries on the program's all-time top ten lists alongside six new MAC qualifications.
The Falcons will compete next weekend, across both Friday and Saturday, February 27-28, at the Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. Indoor MACs will serve as the pinnacle of the Falcons' indoor season, providing most of the Falcons with their last opportunity to register marks and new best performances at the first meet with team scoring for the entire season.
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Bucknell Tune-Up
On the Track
To begin the day at Bucknell,
Cooper Schwartz and
Jack Safer raced in the 60 Meter Dash, with both freshman earning personal record times of 7.36 and 7.52 respectively. Multi athlete
Jed Colyer also finished with a time of 7.60, just three hundredths off his season best.
In the Mile, the Falcons earned a heat win thanks to
Josiah Carnwath's enormous personal record effort of 4:38.46, a time that shatters his previous best of 4:51. Carnwath finished eighth overall in the competition with the results of the fast heat factored in, with
Eli McClymont a single place behind with a time of 4:42.21.
Matthew Rush also finished with a time of 4:51.46, followed closely by
Luke Acton's season best time of 4:52.23.
Kaiden Braught also finished with a season best by a large margin, stopping the clock at 5:08.68, while
Gavin Coggins concluded the Falcons' efforts in a time of 5:22.99.
The 800 Meter Run was highlighted by
Nathan Steen's MAC qualifying performance of 2:01.64, a performance that ensures the freshman can compete at MACs after his previous season best stood just a single hundredth outside of the conference qualifying standard.
Daniel Satariano finished very close behind with a season best time of 2:02.33, while
Nathaniel Coggins followed with a time of 2:03.97.
Caleb McInnes,
Larsen Cooper, and
Celyn Evans each ran three fantastic races to conclude the Falcons' efforts, with each setting an indoor personal best time. McInnes smashed his previous best by an incredible four seconds to stop the clock at 2:09.85, while Cooper finished with a time of 2:10.26 and Evans a time of 2:13.44.
Zion Buck turned in a spectacular performance to lead the Falcons in the 200 Meter Dash, completing his first ever collegiate 200 Meter in a blazing MAC-qualifying time of 23.04 that ties him for third all-time in program history. Behind,
Jack Safer and
Cooper Schwartz both finished with personal records of their own, with Safer running a time of 24.00 to set a new best by a large margin of 0.4 seconds. Schwartz finished with a time of 25.02, a personal record by an even larger margin of 0.83 for the freshman.
The Falcons also had a series of strong performances in the 3000 Meter Run, with
Micah Kao and
Jacob Sahlstrom leading the way with two personal records. Kao finished with his fifth personal record in the 3000 Meter this season, this time registering a three second improvement to stop the clock at 9:08.29.
Jacob Sahlstrom also had an excellent race, following up his near-miss of the MAC standard two weeks ago to just dip under the 9:11.33 qualifier with a 9:10.92 personal best clocking.
Jared Walker,
Samuel Mateer, and
Samuel Meyer all finished very close to one another, with Walker emerging ahead in a time of 9:56.14. Mateer finished with a personal best time of 9:59.49, followed closely by Meyer's 10:00.88 performance.
The Falcons concluded their efforts on the track at Bucknell in the 4x400 Meter Relay, with only a distance runner squad being fielded. The team of
Josiah Carnwath,
Jacob Sahlstrom,
Micah Kao, and
Eli McClymont finished with a time of 3:55.36.Â
In the Field
Action in the field began with the Long Jump, with
Joseph Dunbar submitting a top jump of 5.67 meters (18' 7.25") just a few centimeters behind his personal best as the only Falcon in the event.
In the throwing events,
Hoyt Lechthaler led the Falcons off well with a top throw of 16.92 meters (55' 6.25") in round two of the Weight Throw, backed up by a stellar second-best throw of 16.81 meters (55' 2") in the third round. Lechthaler's top throw sits just nine centimeters off his newly set school record and personal best, indicating wonderful consistency from the graduate student as Indoor MACs approaches.
Ted Lechthaler finished just a single centimeter off his personal best with a top throw of 13.68 meters (44' 10.75") and was followed closely by
Gamaliel Perde, who turned in an incredible throw of 13.16 meters (43' 2.25"), a personal best by over a meter, to place eighth on the Falcons' all-time top ten list.
Jake Holland also finished with a top throw of 12.10 meters (39' 8.5").
In the Triple Jump,
Zion Buck led the Falcons with a season-best mark of 13.36 meters (43' 10"), a significant improvement on several of his other jumps this season.
Joseph Dunbar maintained an incredible level of consistency meet-to-meet by registering a top jump of 11.99 meters (39' 4").
The Shot Put, which concluded around midnight, was the final event of the very late meet.
Nathan Bowman led the Falcons with a fifth-place finish in a very deep field, submitting a top throw of 16.43 meters (53' 11") that stands as his second best in a competition.
Ted Lechthaler also finished very close to his personal best with a top throw of 14.49 meters (47' 6.5"), as did
Luke Bosma with his best of 13.78 meters (45' 2.5").
Jake Holland finished with a season best mark of 12.52 meters (41' 1") in the event and was followed by
Anthony Russo's heave of 11.87 meters (38' 11.5").Â
Penn State Tune-Up
The Falcons also had a number of stellar performances at Penn State, highlighted by three top ten performances and two MAC qualifying performances amidst incredible competition from a number of Division I and Division II schools on a banked track. Three Falcons began the action by taking their place in the Mile, led by senior
Louka Fetter's 4:15.97 clocking in fifth place. Fetter ran a very consistent race by matching the same splits from his personal record mile last year.
Kaleb Kabakjian went out very quickly alongside Fetter, crossing through the halfway mark in a time of 2:08.79 in an effort to beat his 4:18.73 personal record from high school. Fetter began to separate from Kabakjian as the race went on, with Kabakjian ultimately ending up just several tenths outside of his collegiate best in a time of 4:22.59.
Samuel Hennett concluded the trio's efforts from the next heat, racing competitively for the heat win and finishing in second with an indoor personal best time of 4:26.31.
The 800 Meter Run turned out to be the highlight of the day for the Penn State group, led by
John Condon's sensational 1:52.46 clocking that saw him finish second overall in the competition, only behind last year's NCAA Division III 800 Meter national champion. Condon went out very quickly, blitzing his first lap in a time of 27.36, and never relented as he ran no slower than 28.66 on his three remaining laps. Condon's time places him second all-time in program history, exactly half a second from Tyler Newhook's 1:51.96 school record.
Sean Baxter followed up Condon's efforts with a stellar run to win the second heat, trailing the leader in a steady 58.21 before taking control of his heat and closing in a 28.14 last lap. Baxter's final time of 1:55.46 stands as a lifetime best and vaults him from 10th to fifth all-time in program history.
Evan Sarkett also participated in the 800 Meter, finishing with a season best time of 1:57.59 to improve upon his seed time for MACs.
Four of the Falcons' five racers returned for the 4x400 Meter Relay to conclude the meet, with the team of
Sean Baxter,
Evan Sarkett,
Kaleb Kabakjian, and
John Condon running an excellent time of 3:26.14 to place second all-time in program history. Baxter opened the relay very well with a 51.60 split out of blocks, while Sarkett turned in a fantastic leg of 51.24 and was followed by Kabakjian's 53.23 split. Condon's final split of 50.08 carried the team to a come-from-behind heat win and a fourth place overall finish.
Up Next
The Falcons will compete next weekend, across both Friday and Saturday, February 27-28, at the Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. Indoor MACs will serve as the pinnacle of the Falcons' indoor season, providing most of the Falcons with their last opportunity to register marks and new best performances at the first meet with team scoring for the entire season.
