Falcons Sweep Competition In Messiah Double Dual
Pack mentality helped the Messiah women to the top six individual finishes Saturday.

Grantham, PA — Hosting its lone home meet of the season Saturday, the Messiah cross country programs finished in style, claiming both the men’s and women’s overall top finishes against both Gettysburg College and Juniata College at the Messiah Double Dual.

Messiah’s women defeated Juniata by a 15-50 overall score while knocking off Gettysburg by a 15-50 difference; the Falcon men bettered both the Bullets and Eagles by 17-44 disparities.

Those numbers translated into runaway wins for both squads when looking at the overall meet totals, as Messiah’s women netted just 15 points to Juniata’s 48 and Gettysburg’s The men finished with 19 points to Juniata’s 56 and Gettysburg’s 57, reclaiming a championship that was momentarily lost in a second-place finish last season.

“It was exciting to be at home and have a tremendous amount of student and parent support,” said Dale Fogelsanger, Messiah head coach. “We ran well today. Every time you compete you learn how to push your buttons. Racing is an important part of our training regimen.”

Messiah’s women successfully gang-tackled the event, with senior Jennifer Kooser taking first overall in a time of 19:38. She was followed by five teammates in succession, as junior Jacklyn Van Arsdale (20:12), freshman Mary Higgins (20:22), freshman Courtney Long (20:29), junior Inna Potekhina (20:38) and freshman Brooke Airey (20:58) comprised the race’s top six place holders.

Equally as impressive as the overall finish was the cumulative improvement from the Falcons’ upperclassmen in that group, as Kooser (23:33 in 2007), VanArsdale (27:05) and Potekhina (24:41) all vastly lowered their times from the 2007 event.

On the men’s side, senior Frank Eanes captured the individual medal for the third consecutive year at the meet, finishing in a time of 27:41. Freshman Tyler Newhook (28:17) and junior Peter Shenk (28:26) finished right behind, while sophomore Ryan Pastore claimed fifth overall in a time of 28:32 to help Messiah to four of the top five positions.

Saturday’s results continued the positive vibes building within the Falcons’ program, as the women’s team eyes a berth to NCAA Nationals by committee: Currently ranked 26th in the nation by the USTFCCCA, Messiah’s strength in numbers could be well noted by the time NCAA Regional competition rolls around.

“Our region has sent four teams to nationals in each of the last four years,” said Fogelsanger. “You only get two automatic bids per region. Our (region) has been strong historically. We’d love to be a part of that come October.”

Messiah will next participate in the Paul Short Invitational on the campus of Lehigh University Friday. Men’s race time is set for 1:45 p.m. while the women are set to begin running at 2:30 p.m.