LANCASTER, Pa. - The Messiah Men's Track and Field team furthered the incredible momentum sustained throughout the past few meets in emphatic fashion at today's Mini Dip Invitational hosted by Franklin & Marshall college. Despite the Falcons resting several of their stronger athletes, the team still earned a remarkable 10 new entries on the program's all-time top ten lists alongside five new MAC qualifying marks. The Falcons also took full advantage of the smaller fields to make an impression in the finishing order, taking one event win and earning an additional five top three finishes as they competed alongside 14 other schools.
The Falcons will look to keep their momentum going as they travel to Susquehanna University for the Susquehanna Valentine Invite on Saturday, February 14.
On the Track
Action on the track began with the 5000 Meter Run, as senior
Nathaniel Coggins kicked things off well for the Falcons with a personal record and MAC qualifying time of 16:14.60. Coggins' first attempt at the 5000 meter as a collegian yielded a conference qualifying time by a margin of nearly 15 seconds, a spectacular result for the middle distance specialist.
Ryan Klemick also ran an exceptional race for the Falcons in his return from injury, overcoming a fall and continuing on strongly to stop the clock at 16:29.28.
Samuel Mateer used a quick start to earn a new personal best time of 17:28.94, while
Kaiden Braught completed his first collegiate 5000 meter race in a time of 18:21.04.
A duo of Falcons took their place at the start of the 800 Meter Run, with
Larsen Cooper running an excellent race to finish with a time of 2:10.44, just a tenth of a second adrift of his indoor personal record.
Caleb McInnes set an indoor personal record time of 2:13.44 close behind.
Ryan Mowery more than held his own despite being the sole Falcon in the 60 Meter Hurdles, setting a new personal record by a margin of 0.02 seconds with a time of 9.13. Mowery's time moved him up from being in a tie for 10th place into ninth all-time in program history, displacing Assistant Coach
Dane Cornelius' all-time mark from the records list.
In the flat 60 Meter Dash, a larger contingent of Falcons took their place, with
Zach Schwartz finishing atop the group with a time of 7.18, his best since his first collegiate race in December.
Valen Shrum-Groff finished close behind with a time of 7.24, another personal record for the freshman that improves his standing on the program's all-time lists from ninth to fifth.
Cooper Schwartz and
Dominic Lewis both finished close behind their lifetime bests with respective clockings of 7.46 and 7.52, while
Jack Safer and
Declan Hsieh both set new lifetime bests with times of 7.63 and 7.84.
Eli Reeder finished with a time of 8.35 in his 60 meter collegiate debut.
Nathan Steen was the only Falcon to compete in the Mile, turning in a time of 4:48.98. The Mile was followed by the 400 Meter Dash, which featured an incredible run by
Sean Baxter, who improved his indoor 400 meter personal record from 51.89 to an astounding 51.02, good for third in program history. Baxter finished second overall amongst an incredibly competitive field, winning his heat by an incredible margin and falling short of only one single other competitor's time in another race.
Dominic Lewis also competed in the 400 meter, finishing with a time of 55.80 in his collegiate debut.
Another large contingent doubled back from the 60 meter to compete in the 200 Meter Dash, with the Falcons benefitting from another series of personal bests in the longer sprint.
Valen Shrum-Groff set another indoor personal record and another top 10 mark, stopping the clock at 23.75 to move to ninth in program history.
Zach Schwartz finished just three hundredths of a second adrift of his personal best with a time of 23.79, while
Will Xenakis completed his 200 meter debut in a time of 24.02.
Jack Safer also finished with an indoor best of 24.40, followed by
Cooper Schwartz' 25.85 clocking.
The 3000 Meter Run was another highlight on the day for the Falcons, as a large group of Falcons chased the conference qualifying standard of 9:11.33 together in an effort to earn their tickets to MACs. A group of five Falcons were led through the first kilometer in 3:01 and first mile in 4:51 by
Josiah Carnwath, who was the only racer to have already qualified for MACs, before
Micah Kao took the lead in the race just past halfway in an effort to keep pushing the pace.
Eli McClymont was ultimately the Falcon to most closely follow a surge by two Dickinson runners at the front, allowing him to cleanly surpass the MAC standard with a personal best time of 9:07.86.
Micah Kao managed to dip under the standard behind a strong last lap with a 9:11.17 clocking, followed by
Josiah Carnwath's 9:11.83 time in his return from injury.
Jacob Sahlstrom finished just off the MAC standard with a time of 9:12.36, while
Jackson Kay concluded the efforts of the group in a time of 9:18.35.
Samuel Meyer ran well from the second heat to finish with a collegiate best time of 9:48.12, an incredible improvement over his 3000 meter season opening race, followed closely by
Jared Walker's 9:49.90 personal best.
Celyn Evans also finished with a personal best time of 9:53.93 and was followed by
Luke Acton's 10:08.65 performance.
The Falcons earned their final top ten performance on the track in the last track event of the day, with the quartet of
Will Xenakis,
Nathaniel Coggins,
Valen Shrum-Groff, and
Sean Baxter finishing with a time of 3:30.79 in the 4x400 Meter Relay to finish third. The Falcons were led by Baxter's sensational anchor leg of 50.15 that moved them up from fourth into nearly second, falling just a single hundredth short at the line. The team's time of 3:30.79 also places them seventh all-time. A second Falcon team, made up of
Dominic Lewis,
Eli McClymont,
Caleb McInnes, and
Larsen Cooper, also finished with a time of 3:51.84.
In the Field
Fifth-year graduate student
Hoyt Lechthaler was perhaps the star of the entire meet today for the Falcons, finally achieving a long-awaited and exceptionally challenging school record in the Weight Throw. Lechthaler has been second in program history in the weight throw since February 16, 2024, when he threw a then-personal best distance of 14.91 meters (48' 11"). Steadily, over the last two years, Lechthaler has whittled away bit by bit the margin to the record, which stood at an incredible 16.67 meters (54' 8.25"). Lechthaler entered this season with a best of 16.34 meters (53' 7.5") and improved to 16.40 meters (53' 9.75") last month before uncorking an incredible distance of 17.01 meters (55' 9.75") on his final throw of today's competition, blowing away the record by an incredible margin after such a long period of steady, dutiful improvements. Lechthaler's sensational final throw displaced three-time national qualifier Fred Fulton from the school record spot, and it also narrowly earned the meet win over a mark of 16.90 meters that was relegated into second after Lechthaler's fantastic final throw.
Lechthaler's performance inspired a number of incredible throwing marks behind, with
Ted Lechthaler also finishing in a new personal best distance of 13.69 meters (44' 11") that improves on his own fifth-best mark in program history.
Gamaliel Perde also had a fantastic day, setting a personal record by over a meter and a half to qualify for MACs with a distance of 12.07 meters (39' 7.25").
Jake Holland rounded out the Falcons' efforts in the weight throw with a solid mark of 11.86 meters (38' 11").
Nathan Bowman kept the fireworks going for the Falcons in the throws, unleashing an incredible throw of 16.69 meters (54' 9.25") in his very first attempt at the Shot Put to completely obliterate his previous best of 15.90 meters (52' 2"). Bowman improved further on his final throw, setting a new best distance of 16.77 meters (55' 0.25") to improve nearly three feet in total in a single meet and substantially improve his own third best mark in program history. At the time of this writing, Bowman's outstanding performance places him 14th in all of Division III in the Shot Put.
Ted Lechthaler finished with a second personal best on the day, throwing for a distance of 14.59 meters (47' 10.50") to improve on his own fourth-best mark in program history. Personal records continued down the results list as
Luke Bosma threw for an astounding distance of 13.70 meters (44' 11.5"), bringing his total improvement in the last three meets to a meter and a half and improving his standing on the all-time program top ten from ninth to seventh.
Anthony Russo also finished with a new personal best, qualifying for the final out of the first flight and submitting a new MAC qualifying best of 12.48 meters (40' 11.5"). The quartet each placed in the top eight with Bowman and Lechthaler finishing first and second respectively. Bosma finished close behind in fourth while Russo finished the day in seventh.
Joseph Dunbar maintained his impressive consistency in the Triple Jump, registering a top leap of 12.02 meters (39' 5.25"), just a single centimeter off his collegiate best, a mark that itself has been tied in two different meets.
Ezra Rook and
Gabriel Torrado participated in the vertical jumps today for the Falcons, with Zook in the Pole Vault registering a new season best mark of 3.80 meters (12' 5.5"). Torrado also finished with a season best mark of 1.65 meters (5' 5") in the High Jump.
Three of the four returned for the Long Jump, with Zook finishing atop the group in a distance of 5.71 meters (18' 8.75").
Declan Hsieh finished with an impressive new personal best mark of 5.64 meters (18' 6"), while Dunbar concluded the Falcons' efforts with a top jump of 5.52 meters (18' 1.5").
Up Next
The Falcons will look to keep their momentum going as they travel to Susquehanna University for the Susquehanna Valentine Invite on Saturday, February 14.
