SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Messiah Men's Cross Country team opened the 2026 season with a third-place finish on Friday evening at the 16th Annual Galen Piper XC Challenge hosted by Shippensburg University. The season opener proved to be a non-standard race as the team took to the course under the lights and for a 6k distance rather than the standard 8k. The race took place on a 1,000-meter loop around the Raider athletic facilities and pinned the Falcons against seven other collegiate teams and a Shippensburg Alumni team.
The Falcons will have the next two weeks to prepare for their next competition on Friday, September 18th. Messiah will travel to Stevenson University for a preview of the Middle Atlantic Conference Championship site for later this season.
Action on the Course
As a team, the Falcons finished in third with a team score of 97. George Washington took the win with a score of 16, claiming the top four individual finishes. Host Shippensburg finished in second with a score of 67. The spread of finishers was close, partially due to the shorter length of race. The final runner in the field of 131 finished just over nine minutes behind the lead runner, with the top 18 finishing within a minute of each other.
Kaleb Kabakjian finished as the top Falcon, finishing closely behind the lead contingent of George Washington runners to finish fifth in a new personal best time of 19:16.8 at the 6k distance.
Samuel Hennett was close behind, shaving nearly a minute off of his performance at last year's 6k, crossing the line in a time of 19:36.1 to finish 13th overall and as the second Falcon finisher.
A strong pack of runners found themselves within the top 40, with six Falcons finishing between 25th and 40th.
Josiah Carnwath was the third Falcon to cross the line, finishing in 26th with a time of 20:16.7, cutting nearly a minute off of his previous best at the 6k distance. Two places behind Carnwath was
Matthew Yost, finishing his first race as a Falcon in 20:19.4.
Micah Kao crossed the line in 20:21.4, over a minute less than his previous best and two places behind Yost.
Eli McClymont and
Ryan Klemick were close behind, finishing in 20:37.0 and 20:37.9 respectively to claim the final two scoring places for the Falcons.
Caden Sarkett finished just outside scoring, finishing in 39th with a time of 20:53.3.
A number of other Falcons found themselves in the top half of finishers, led by
Burke Heltzel in a time of 21:08.2. He was followed by
Nathan Hutchinson who crossed in a time of 21:12.5.
Larsen Cooper and
Samuel Meyer were the next two to cross the line in respective times of 21:27.6 and 21:30.1, with Cooper cutting nearly 45 seconds off his previous 6k time.
Nathan Seibert just edged out teammate
Bradley Kreider, finishing in a time of 21:33.4 with Kreider crossing in 21:34.2.
Jackson Kay crossed the line in a time of 21:43.9 while
Jared Walker finished in a time of 21:59.0.
Alex Williams finished his first race as a Falcon in a time of 22:03.5.
Matthew Rush and
Luke Acton were the next Falcons to cross, with Rush finishing in a time of 22:14.2 and Acton crossing in a time of 22:15.7, five seconds off his time at last year's race.
Nathan Steen (22:22.7) and
Samuel Mateer (22:23.4) crossed the line as the next Falcons before
Isaac Struck-Vander Haak crossed in a time of 23:14.8.
From Head Coach
Dale Fogelsanger, "This was a great opening meet. Although it was very humid, many times were faster than last year at this same race. They were ready to race after consistent summer training and four first-years finished in our top ten."
The Falcons will have the next two weeks to prepare for their next competition on Friday, September 18th. Messiah will travel to Stevenson University for a preview of the Middle Atlantic Conference Championship site for later this season.
