READING, Pa. - The Messiah Men's Track and Field team will participate at the Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships across two days this upcoming weekend, on Friday, February 27th and Saturday, February 28th. The Indoor MAC Championships will be hosted by Alvernia University, in Reading, Pa., at their Indoor Track Facility. Tickets costing $10 each, which must be purchased online, will be required for both Friday and Saturday for all spectators age seven or older, with younger children and MAC students receiving free admission. The competition will begin on Friday with the multi events at 12:15 p.m. and conclude at 5:50 p.m. with the 4x200 Meter Relay. On Saturday, the action will kick off at 9:15 a.m. with Day Two of the multi events and conclude at 4:45 p.m. with the 4x400 Meter Relay. The next two days of action promise to be an exhilarating display of track and field competition, with the meet serving as the culmination of the season for almost all athletes in the conference.

The Falcons last captured an Indoor Track and Field conference title, their third in program history, three years ago at the 2023 edition of these championships. After scoring 107.5 points in that winning effort, the Falcons finished in sixth place the following year with 49.5 points before rebounding last year to finish second with 103 points. The Falcons are in a good place to match or even exceed last year's finish and were recently picked to finish second in the Pre-Championship Coach's poll with an additional two first-place votes. The Falcons look to benefit from strong performances in the multi, relays, throws, mid-distance, and distance events, with outside chances of scoring in the jumps and sprints as well. The Falcons will aim to match or exceed last year's performance, both in points scored and in finishing placement, with a definite opportunity to return to the top of the conference being present this weekend. 

Friday Action
The first final that will take place on Friday is the Distance Medley Relay, for which the Falcons have fielded an excellent team that stands securely as a definite medal threat. Ryan Mowery will feature for the Falcons in the 60 Meter Hurdles as one of the last seeds. The Falcons will also field a team in the 4x200 Meter Relay that will have a chance to contribute to the team score for the first time in several years. The Falcons' best chance to score on Friday night will come in the 5000 Meter Run final, an event in which senior Louka Fetter is a two-time silver medalist and will enter the race seeded second once again with an excellent opportunity to earn an event win for the Falcons. Junior Josiah Carnwath will also enter the race seeded eighth, with a shot to contribute a few points to the Falcons' total. Nathaniel Coggins, Jackson Kay, Micah Kao, and Ryan Klemick will also feature for the Falcons in the event.

In the field, the Falcons' strongest chance to score will come in the Weight Throw, in which graduate student Hoyt Lechthaler is seeded second after his stellar school record throw of 17.01 meters (55' 9.75") earlier this season. After finishing seventh and fifth in the past two years at Indoor MACs, Lechthaler's consistency this season appears to have him poised to improve upon those finishing with a very real chance at a gold medal. Ted Lechthaler and Gamliel Perde will also participate in the Weight Throw. Gabriel Torrado will take his place for the Falcons in the High Jump after just sneaking over the qualifying mark in the event. Zion Buck will also participate for the Falcons in the Long Jump and will hope to recapture the form that led him to finish third in the event with an incredible leap of 6.82 meters (22' 4.5"). Buck enters the competition seeded 10th with a season best of 6.50 meters (21' 4").

The Heptathlon, which features graduate student Liam McGovern and sophomore Jed Colyer for the Falcons, will start with the first four events on Friday and conclude with the final three events on Saturday. McGovern enters the meet as the second-seeded competitor with a great chance to take home another event win for the Falcons, while Colyer will look to match his seventh-placed finish at last year's edition of these championships.

Saturday Action
After the Heptathlon 60 Meter Hurdles serves as the opening event, the Falcons will benefit from three entrants in the Mile, in the form of Kaleb Kabakjian, Samuel Hennett, and Nathaniel Coggins. Kabakjian, who finished fourth in this event last year as a freshman, will enter the competition seeded seventh after an injury-shortened season that has seen him race twice in the last two months. Freshman Samuel Hennett will also toe the line in the second, faster heat, seeded 11th, with an outside chance of scoring. Coggins, who scraped under the qualifying mark by about half a second, will race in the first heat. 

Sean Baxter, seeded third in the 400 Meter Dash, will compete for the Falcons in that event to conclude a season that has also seen him race spectacularly in the 800 Meter Run. Baxter's season best of 51.02 places him 0.1 seconds behind second and quarter of a second ahead of seventh in a tightly clustered field in an event that serves as another strong medal opportunity for the Falcons. 

One of a few events where the Falcons have the top seed is the 800 Meter Run, where an incredible season and a 1:52.46 indoor personal best have senior John Condon leading the conference in the event. Condon will have an excellent opportunity to earn the first individual gold medal of his career alongside the multiple relay golds and one bronze medal won in the open 800 Meter Run across his four years. Evan Sarkett, last year's fourth-place finisher in the event, has not enjoyed the best opportunities to race the 800 Meter this season and will start as the top entrant in the slower first heat. Daniel Satariano, with his indoor personal best time of 2:02.33, also managed to qualify in the event and will start for the Falcons.

For the first time in at least several years, the Falcons will have an opportunity to score in the 200 Meter Dash thanks to Zion Buck's 23.04 indoor personal best set last weekend, a time that has the sophomore seeded sixth. Zachary Schwartz and Dominic Lewis, both of whom managed to eclipse the MAC qualifying standard, will also race in the 200 Meter. 

The Falcons will also look to score in the 3000 Meter Run as Louka Fetter returns from the 5000 Meter Run the previous night. Fetter, who won the 3000 Meter Run at Indoor MACs last year in a championship record, will look to defend his title in his second race of the weekend and will hope to gain the Falcons a valuable sum of points in the process. Samuel Hennett, who will return from the Mile seeded 10th in the event, will look to try to finish in a scoring position. The Falcons also had a number of competitors sneak under the MAC qualifying standard in the event, with Eli McClymont, Micah Kao, Josiah Carnwath, and Jacob Sahlstrom all racing together in a six-man first heat.  

The Falcons' 4x800 Meter Relay and 4x400 Meter Relay teams, which will cap off track events for the meet, also look to be in a very strong position heading into the weekend. The Falcons have set a program record in the 4x800 Meter Relay as well as the No. 2 time in program history in the 4x400 Meter Relay this season after both relays finished in third place with bronze medals at last year's Indoor MAC Championships. Many teams alongside the Falcons in the conference appear to have stronger teams this year compared to last in the relays, indicating incredibly competitive events to come in concluding the meet.

Saturday's field events also feature a number of scoring opportunities for the Falcons, beginning with the Triple Jump at 10:00 a.m. Zion Buck will return from the Long Jump the previous night to take his place in the Triple Jump in a similar situation: after finishing in fourth last year, Buck will be seeded ninth in the Triple Jump with a season best of 13.36 meters (43' 10") after a personal best of 14.14 meters (46' 4.75") last indoor season. Buck will look to improve upon his seed to reprise his scoring effort last year in the event. 

One of the Falcons' strongest events will be the Shot Put, where Sophomore Nathan Bowman is the top seed by an incredible margin and overwhelming favorite to take home gold behind his 16.77 meters (55' 0.25") heave earlier this season. Ted Lechthaler may also feature as a scorer for the Falcons as the fourth seed in the event, while Luke Bosma is also in a scoring position as the seventh seed behind his enormous improvements this season. Anthony Russo and Jack Holland will both take their place in the Shot Put for the Falcons as well. 

The Falcons will also benefit from Ezra Zook's entry in the Pole Vault. Zook, whose personal best in the event is 4.26 meters (12' 0"), will look to improve upon his 4.00 meters (13' 1.5") season best in order to have an opportunity to score in the event. 

The Falcons will look to compete at the highest level and finish as well as they possibly can throughout two intense days of competition this coming weekend. Alongside this, however, the Falcons aim to remember as preeminent the reason that they aspire to compete at the highest level - for God's glory and to proclaim His name as they wear it across their chest in competition. Through all the competition, the times, the placement, and the team finishes, the Falcons will seek to fix their eyes on that which matters most. Regardless of the performance outcome, if God's glory is magnified through the Falcons' conduct and efforts this weekend, then the most important thing has been accomplished.

Related Videos

Now Playing:

• Play Video