READING, Pa. - The Messiah Men's Track and Field team enjoyed an outstanding past two days at the 2026 Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, concluding two intense sessions of competition with a second place team finish out of 16 teams in the conference. The Falcons finished with 90 points to emerge victorious in a furious four-way competition for second place, outpacing Widener (third, 85 points), Eastern (fourth, 78 points), and Stevens (fifth, 74.5 points). The Falcons finished behind only victors Lebanon Valley College (first, 135.5 points). The Falcons benefitted from a slew of standout performances, highlighted by the performances of three individual MAC champions, another conference-winning relay, three school records, four other top 10 performances, and an additional four medal-winning performances across the weekend. Each event group stepped up to contribute to the Falcons' efforts this weekend, resulting in the culmination of a very successful indoor season.

The Falcons will return to action with the onset of the outdoor season in a month at the Danny Curran Invitational, hosted by Widener University on March 27-28th. 

Friday Events
Friday action on the track opened with the Distance Medley Relay, where the Falcons fielded a strong team of Evan Sarkett, Will Xenakis, Sean Baxter, and Kaleb Kabakjian while still keeping two top racers fresh for their open events later in the meet. The team ran an excellent time of 10:27.72 to place third overall and earn a bronze medal, highlighted by Sarkett's leadoff 3:11 split and Baxter's 1:56 to put the Falcons in the lead before the final leg. Kabakjian ran a smart and measured 4:26 final 1600 Meter leg to move up from fourth into third in the closing stages of the race and start the weekend off well for the Falcons.

Ryan Mowery turned in a time of 9.17 in the preliminary round of 60 Meter Hurdles, placing 12th overall. Mowery's time stands just a few hundredths off of his lifetime best.

The 5000 Meter Run was the second final on the track, with Louka Fetter leading the Falcons' efforts in a third-place effort with a school record time of 14:54.30. Fetter remained with the leaders until the final kilometer but still managed to hang on to break Ben Schott's previous school record of 14:55.75 from 2017. Fetter's time stands as a personal record by four seconds, improving on his time in the same race freshman year by exactly four seconds. Josiah Carnwath finished very close to scoring for the Falcons with a time of 15:44.39, finishing 10th overall after an exceptionally quick first three kilometers of 9:11. Micah Kao and Jackson Kay produced fireworks in the first heat by finishing second and third, with Kao just 0.25 seconds off the heat win behind a searing last lap of 31.1. Kao finished in a time of 15:56.79, his first time under 16 minutes, with Kay close behind in a personal record time of 16:04.09. Nathaniel Coggins finished with a time of 16:16.46, just ahead of Ryan Klemick's 16:18.40 performance.

The Falcons also stole a point in the 4x200 Meter Relay, benefitting from a notable DNF by projected medalist Eastern to finish eighth place in a time of 1:34.53. The Falcon team of Zach Schwartz, Valen Shrum-Groff, Dominic Lewis, and Jack Safer ran very strong legs despite being without their fastest teammate, with Safer in particular holding down the eighth-place spot behind an excellent anchor split of 23.4. 

In the field, Gabriel Torrado kicked things off for the Falcons with a top clearance of 1.63 meters (5' 4.25"), placing 20th in a large field. Ezra Zook also competed in the Pole Vault, finishing in 11th place with a top jump of 3.79 meters (12' 5.25"). Zion Buck turned in a very effortful performance in the Long Jump, finishing just off his season best with a jump of 6.47 meters (21' 2.75") in the first round. Buck finished in 10th, matching his seeded placement.

School record-holder Hoyt Lechthaler carried the banner for the Falcons in the Weight Throw, finishing with a top throw of 16.00 meters to place fifth, matching his performance from the previous year and earning four team points for the Falcons. Ted Lechthaler finished with a distance of 12.92 meters (42' 4") in the weight and was followed by Gamaliel Perde's 12.27 meters (40' 3") performance.

Multi athletes Liam McGovern and Jed Colyer participated in the first four events of the Heptathlon on Friday, with both athletes turning in personal best Day One totals of 2475 and 2388 points respectively. McGovern finished with excellent performances very near his personal records in the 60 Meter Dash, Long Jump, and High Jump, with Colyer setting personal records in three of four events as well as a season best in the 60 Meter to set up an exciting Day Two.

Saturday Events
Action on the track on Saturday opened with one of the highlights of the meet for the Falcons, with sophomore Kaleb Kabakjian running a remarkable race to finish in second place in the Mile with a collegiate best time of 4:19.84 that places ninth all-time in program history. Kabakjian improved incredibly upon his projected seventh-seeded placement, running a season best time by over three seconds with an exceptionally patient race. Kabakjian found himself in 14th place after 400 meters but moved up steadily throughout the race, closing the second half of his race in 2:04.6 to just out-dip third place at the line and earn the first silver medal of his career. Freshman Samuel Hennett also enjoyed a fantastic performance, finishing with a personal record time of 4:26.27 in seventh place to earn two points for the team. Hennett was seeded 10th but improved significantly on his predicted finish by moving up three spots in the last 400 meters into a scoring position. Nathaniel Coggins also raced the Mile, turning in very consistent splits to finish with a time of 4:35.60.

Sean Baxter was the Falcons' sole entrant in the 400 Meter Dash, finishing in ninth place with a time of 51.80, the fastest time in his career at Indoor MACs. 

John Condon finished with the Falcons' first event win and gold medal of the weekend with a gutsy performance in the 800 Meter Run, running a MAC championship record time of 1:54.24. Condon earned the win the hard way, leading the final 400 meters of the race and holding off all competitors on the final lap to earn his first individual medal - a gold - indoors. Condon seized control of the race at halfway after a 29.0 third lap and injected an incredible surge to string out the field, running a third lap of 28.3 before just holding off second place with a 29.2 close. Evan Sarkett made a brave bid to score in the event from the slow heat, taking out his race in blazing fashion with a searing 1:25.6 split through 600 meters, a time that placed him third amongst all competitors at the 600 meter split mark. Sarkett ultimately finished third in his heat with a time of 1:59.26 after a final lap of 33.6, placing 10th overall in the field. Daniel Satariano also competed in the 800 Meter, finishing with a time of 2:04.88.

Zion Buck competed well for the Falcons in the 200 Meter Dash in his third event of the weekend, running a time of 23.66 to place 17th while doing his best to manage injury. 

The 3000 Meter Run was another highlight for the Falcons, with another event win and gold medal being earned, this time by Louka Fetter in his successful title defense of the indoor 3000 meter. For the second year in a row, Fetter finished with a personal record, school record, and MAC Championship record en route to a first-place finish in the 3000 Meter, this time in a 8:32.78 performance, his first time under 8:33 after three different 8:33 performances across his four years. Fetter won a close race with a final lap of 28.5, his fastest closing split so far this season, carrying him to the win by a margin of 2.8 seconds. Samuel Hennett ran an extremely impressive race just two hours after his mile, nearly stealing more points for the Falcons with a ninth-place finish in a time of 8:53.36, just two tenths off of scoring. Hennett's time was a personal record by seven seconds. Josiah Carnwath returned from the 5000 Meter the previous night with a personal record time of 9:01.30 and led a host of Falcons to follow, with Eli McClymont also finishing in a new personal best time of 9:05.22. Micah Kao finished with a time of 9:13.76.

The Falcons had another sensational run in the 4x800 Meter Relay, setting a new school record and breaking the one set just earlier this year with an incredible time of 7:55.44, a new conference championship meeting record. Kaleb Kabakjian returned from the Mile to split a time of 2:01.9 for the Falcons on leadoff before freshman Nathan Steen ran a sensational leg to register an enormous personal best time of 1:59.1 and keep the Falcons in contention. Sean Baxter's third leg of 1:57.8 brought the Falcons from fourth to first and allow John Condon, the open 800 Meter champion, to receive the baton with the lead. Condon would hold the lead with an exceptional 1:56.5 final split to carry the Falcons to a new school record and the win by a margin of two seconds. 

The 4x400 Meter Relay that followed saw the Falcons place fifth in a very competitive field with a time of 3:30.88. The Falcon team, made up of Valen Shrum-Groff, Will Xenakis, Evan Sarkett, and John Condon, ran a competitive race to finish fifth out of six teams in the fastest heat and beat all of the times set by other teams in the previous two heats. The squad benefitted from Condon's team-best anchor of 51.5, set just minutes after Condon anchored the Falcons' 4x800 Meter team to victory. The 4x400 Meter cemented the Falcons as second-place finishers in the team race, with fifth place and four team points doing just enough to ensure they would not be passed by any competitors.

Action in the field began on Saturday with the Triple Jump, where Zion Buck took a single jump in the first round before saving his health for the rest of the events to come. Buck's single jump was a season-best leap of 13.42 meters (44' 0.25") and held up for seventh overall, securing two team points for the Falcons. 

The only other individual field event on Saturday was the Shot Put, where the Falcons put on an incredible show in the form of three men on the podium and 18 points in a single event, their most of the weekend. The Falcons were led by Nathan Bowman, the event's runaway winner behind a top throw of 16.27 meters (53' 4.5") that allowed him to win by over a meter. Ted Lechthaler earned a bronze medal in third, setting a new lifetime best mark of 14.72 meters (48' 3.5") and improving upon his own fourth-best mark in program history. Luke Bosma also set a new personal record in seventh of 14.15 meters, improving upon his previous best by a single centimeter and improving his own fifth-best mark in program history.

Day Two of the Heptathlon saw personal records by both McGovern and Colyer, with the duo finishing fourth and fifth in the competition respectively to earn a combined nine points for the Falcons. McGovern finished with a new personal record total of 4247 points, improving his standing on the all-time top ten list to seventh. McGovern had two solid outings in the 60 Meter Hurdles and Pole Vault before earning a new Heptathlon best behind a sizable personal record in the 1000 Meter of 3:04.00. Colyer also finished with a personal best of 4063 points, an incredible improvement over his previous best of 3728 points. Colyer finished with a personal record in five of seven events in the Heptathlon and in two of three events on Day Two, turning in times of 9.76 in the 60 Meter Hurdles and 3:06.05 in the 1000 Meter.

Up Next
The Falcons will return to action with the onset of the outdoor season in a month at the Danny Curran Invitational, hosted by Widener University on March 27-28th. 

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