CHESTER, Pa. - The Messiah Men's Track and Field team turned in an excellent assortment of performances this weekend at the Danny Curran Invitational, hosted across Friday and Saturday at Widener University. The Falcons benefited from a number of exceptional distance performances on Friday night thanks to competitive fields and great weather, with cold and windy conditions prevailing for much of the day on Saturday as the Falcons competed excellently against an astounding 81 teams and clubs from across the region. The Falcons benefited from two top two performances amidst extraordinarily deep fields as well as five top ten performances across the weekend, setting up the team for success very well as the outdoor season progresses.
The Falcons will return to competition on a short week at the York Twilight Meet on Wednesday, April 1 before leaving on Friday for Easter break.
On the Track
Action opened for the Falcons on Friday night in the form of the 5000 Meter Run and 10000 Meter Run races, which occurred the day before the rest of track competition. The Falcons' distance squad had an exceptional day, with
Kaleb Kabakjian leading a large contingent in the 5000 Meter with a time of 15:02.15. Kabakjian opened very cautiously with a first two kilometers of only 6:08 but quickened his pace and finished very well in order to near the 15:00 mark. Kabakjian's time places him 10th on the all-time outdoor program 5000 Meter list, improving on
Kyle Costello's previous 10th-best mark of 15:06.78.
Samuel Hennett and
Josiah Carnwath turned in exceptional performances to finish first and second in the second heat, with Hennett overtaking Carnwath in the final straight to take top honors in the heat with a time of 15:08.88. Carnwath finished just behind in a time of 15:09.42, with both athletes registering enormous personal records of 32 and 26 seconds respectively. The personal records continued as
Eli McClymont finished third in the third heat as the top Falcon, setting a new personal record time by over two minutes to finish with a MAC-qualifying time of 15:42.50.
Jackson Kay also set a personal record by 15 seconds, finishing in a time of 15:49.50 that places him just a tenth of a second outside MAC qualification.
Micah Kao also turned in a personal record by a margin of one second by finishing with a time of 15:55.89.
Ryan Klemick continued the streak of personal records with a 16:02.17 clocking, a nine second personal best.Â
The Falcons also featured prominently in the fifth and final heat of the 5000 Meter, with
Jared Walker and
Samuel Mateer going 1-2 thanks to enormous personal bests of 16:37.90 and 16:39.37, times that serve as new bests of nearly a minute for both.
Luke Acton's race ended up in a very similar fashion, allowing him to improve on his 17:50.84 by exactly a minute thanks to a 16:50.13 finish.
Matthew Rush also finished with a 10 second personal record by finishing with his first time under 17, a mark of 16:53.45.
Samuel Meyer led the heat for most of the time en route to a 17:03.60 finish, a time followed by personal bests from
Nick Donohue (17:25.39) and
Celyn Evans (17:33.14).Â
Louka Fetter was the only Falcon to contest the 10000 Meter Run, finishing with a new personal record and school record by a margin of two seconds thanks to a 30:32.94 finish. After the race opened slowly, Fetter took the lead 2000 meters in and quickened the pace before leading for the rest of the race en route to an event win amongst a competitive MAC field. Fetter's performance stands as his second school record in the 10000 Meter after setting his first last season with a 30:34.70 performance, with his wire-to-wire performance indicating the potential for an even faster time in a different race.
The 1500 Meter Run was the opening event on the track for the Falcons on Saturday, with
Kaiden Braught the sole Falcon to toe the line for the metric mile. Braught went out strongly, leading the rest of his heat in the cold and wind that accompanied the start of the day. Braught finished with a personal record time of 4:46.80 that surpasses his old outdoor best in the 1500 Meter by six seconds, improving on his 4:52 clocking last season.
Two multi athletes took their place in the 110 Meter Hurdles, with
Liam McGovern finishing in a personal record time of 16.99 thanks to a fantastic performance.
Jed Colyer followed his teammate with a 19.14 clocking.
Sean Baxter finished with a time of 51.00 in his season opener in the 400 Meter Dash, a season best from indoor by two hundredths of a second.
Three Falcons participated in the 100 Meter Dash, with
Valen Shrum-Groff finishing first thanks to a personal best time of 11.46. Multi athlete Jace Russell ran an excellent race to finish in a time of 12.42 and was followed shortly by
Declan Hsieh's 12.51 personal best.
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Daniel Satariano led a host of Falcons in the 800 Meter Run with a time of 2:01.12 that sits less than a second adrift of his lifetime best.
Nathan Steen raced in the same heat as Satariano and finished with a time of 2:07.94.
Caleb McInnes followed shortly with a personal best time of 2:08.60, a finish just ahead of
Larsen Cooper's season best clocking of 2:09.24.Â
Two Falcons toed the line in the 400 Meter Hurdles, an event that saw
Will Xenakis finish as the top Falcon with a time of 59.64.
Daniel Erikson went out very quickly in his race and hung on for a strong time of 1:00.66. Both athletes finished within a second and a half of their personal bests from previous years.
Zion Buck led a trio of very tightly bunched Falcon athletes in the 200 Meter Dash, finishing for the first time under 23 seconds with a 22.92 clocking.
Valen Shrum-Groff finished closely behind with a personal record time of 23.14 for his second personal best of the day, an improvement of a quarter of a second on his previous best. Senior
Sean Baxter also ran well in his first career 200 Meter as a collegiate athlete, finishing with a time of 23.42.
Senior
Nathaniel Coggins turned in a fantastic race as the sole Falcon in the 3000 Meter Steeplechase, the final running event on the day for the Falcons. Coggins finished very strongly after a consistent race to register a sizable personal best of 16 seconds en route to a 10:04.80 performance, improving significantly on his previous best from sophomore year.
In the Field
Action in the field on Friday night opened with the Shot Put, with
Nathan Bowman finishing in second place overall thanks to a top throw of 16.28 meters (53' 5"). Bowman's mark stands as an outdoor personal best and improves significantly on his third-best mark in program history, set last year.
Ted Lechthaler finished in seventh overall within an extremely competitive field after a lifetime best personal record throw of 14.88 meters (48' 10"), his best performance indoor or out. Lechthaler's mark improves on his own fourth-best mark in program history, outpacing his best outdoor throw of 14.45 meters (47' 5") from last season.
Luke Bosma also finished with an outdoor personal best throw of 13.42 meters (44' 0.5") that nears his best mark of 14.15 meters (46' 5.25") from the indoor season, placing him seventh in program history for outdoor track.
Anthony Russo finished with a mark of 11.60 meters (38' 7.5"), just ahead of
Jake Holland's best throw of 11.34 meters (37' 2.5").Â
Three Falcons participated in the Discus Throw also on Friday night, with
Luke Bosma leading a trio of Falcons in his primary event behind a 40.15 meters (131' 8") on his top throw.
Jake Holland finished close behind with a best throw of 38.61 meters (126' 8"), with
Nathan Bowman following in a top mark of 35.99 meters (118' 1").Â
The Long Jump opened competition on Saturday, with
Zion Buck finishing sixth amongst a very competitive field and turning in a best jump of 6.45 meters (21' 2") on a day where many competitors fell well short of their entry marks due to cold, windy conditions.
Liam McGovern also jumped well to turn in a top jump of 5.89 meters (19' 4"), while
Jed Colyer finished with a top mark of 5.15 meters (16' 10.75").Â
In the Javelin throw,
Cooper Schwartz finished with a lifetime best throw of 48.70 meters (159' 9") as the only Falcon in the event.
Ben Reichenbach was the only Falcon to contest the High Jump in his return to competition for the first time in over a year, submitting an excellent performance with a top clearance of 1.91 meters (6' 3.25"). Reichenbach cleared the height on his second attempt.
Ezra Zook featured as the only Falcon in the Pole Vault, finishing near his other performances this season with a top clearance at 3.95 meters (12' 11.5").
Up Next
The Falcons will return to competition on a short week at the York Twilight Meet on Wednesday, April 1 before leaving on Friday for Easter break.
