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Messiah Claims First Men's, Women's Indoor MAC Championships

Selinsgrove, PA — Coming into Saturday’s MAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, 14th-year Messiah head coach Dale Fogelsanger had never witnessed his program claim a league crown while competing inside.

Not a bad time to go for a double-dip.

Messiah claimed the women’s MAC Championship outright while the men tied Elizabethtown College for top honors at Susquehanna University Saturday, giving the program its first indoor conference titles in school history. The Messiah women collected 144.33 team points over E’Town’s 127 total while the men — coming in as 27-point underdogs by performance list numbers — narrowly missed out on sole possession of the league hardware in tying the Blue Jays with 135 team points each.

The former helped Fogelsanger to his first MAC Coach of the Year honor on the indoor circuit, while sophomore Kristen Bates earned MAC Track Athlete of the Year for the women and senior Nick Kipe MAC Field Athlete of the Year for the men.

Following the day’s events, however, the primary topic of conversation was the ultra-tight men’s results, as the league title came down to literally the final event of the meet. With Messiah leading by two points and only the 4 X 400-meter relay to be completed, the Falcons’ Michael Dell (senior), Patrick Roach (junior), Cody Rosenbaker (freshman) and Jesse Weidemann (freshman) put up a school-record 3:26.80 clip, a time nearly five seconds faster than the previous program mark.

Incredibly, Elizabethtown’s foursome finished just .36 of a second ahead of the group, earning 10 points for the race compared to Messiah’s eight. As an energy-charged arena looked on, E’Town had grasped a share of the conference title at the last possible moment.

“It was a pretty loud finish to the day,” Fogelsanger said of the last men’s race. “For our men, today was just an awesome meet. Going in we knew we were behind, we knew we had to step it up and, led by our seniors, we did. Probably every senior had a personal best for us, and the leadership of our senior captains deserve much of the credit for the team’s results and intensity today.”

Kipe and Dell began the day strong for Fogelsanger in that regard, leading Messiah to a school-record win in the 4 X 200 relay, joining Roach and Weidemann to post a 1:32.06 clip. It would be the first of five top-three finishes that Dell would complete on the day, finishing third in the 55-meter hurdles (:08.44), the high jump (6 feet) and the 400-meter dash (:51.47). He also took home a fifth-place performance in the shot put event (44 feet, 11 and ¾ inches).

“The 4 X 200 team won their event, and that kind of set the tone for us,” Fogelsanger said. “Dell had four personal bests for us on the day, and again I just can’t say enough about our seniors. They get the credit for our intensity.”

Kipe stayed busy as well, winning the top field performer accolade following first-place finishes in both the long jump (22 feet, 4 and ½ inches) and triple jump (43 feet, 9 and ¼ inches). He also finished fourth in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 10 inches.

Collectively, Messiah dominated several events with perhaps none more than the mile competition, as the Falcons garnered three of the top four places in earning 20 points in that race alone. Sophomore Cory Kaufman won the event in a time of 4:26.87, followed by senior captain Patrick Hager’s 4:27.99 clip (third) and sophomore Eddy Palmer’s 4:28.83 (fourth).

Roach claimed the 200-meter dash title in a time of :22.92 and finished second in the 400 (:49.50), the latter hitting the national provisional qualifying time. Messiah’s Ted Simmons (sophomore) won the high jump competition with a clearance of 6 feet, 6 inches), while Hager teamed with Palmer, sophomore Peter Shenk and freshman Taylor Munoz to finish third in the 4 X 800 relay (8:16.72). The Falcons' distance medley relay team of Shenk, sophomore Trevor Book, freshman Cody Rosenbaker and freshman Taylor Munoz also finished third (11:04.99).

Perhaps not as intense — but equally as impressive — was the Falcons’ women’s performance on the afternoon, as Bates’ helped the team cruise to the conference title. The sophomore from Landisburg, Pennsylvania took home first-place finishes in the 55-meter dash (:07.52), the 55-meter hurdles (:08.27), the high jump (4 feet, 11 and ¾ inches), the long jump (16 feet, 6 and ½ inches) and the triple jump (36 feet, 5 and ¾ inches). Both Bates’ 55-meter run and the 55-hurdle performance were new school records, while her top place in the hurdles was again good enough for national qualifying honors, as Bates will compete in the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships in two weeks.

“Kristen obviously had an outstanding meet as she was the high-point getter for the day,” Fogelsanger said. “I was also very proud of (senior) Rachel Hepkins, who was still able to do some great things for us despite dealing with a fairly significant knee injury.”

Hepkins won the 400-meter dash in a time of :59.88 and anchored the winning 4 X 400 relay team, collaborating with Bates, sophomore Laura Carbone and freshman Megan Sisson for a 4:14.39 finish.

Messiah received a school-record performance from junior Jennifer Kooser in the mile (5:13.98, third place), while she placed second in 5,000-meter run (17:51.63). Other top finishes for the Falcons included a second-place result from freshman Grace Kaste in the 800-meter run (2:23.69) and a first-place effort from Kaste, senior Laura Weaner, senior Liz Monachello and freshman Roanna Martin in the 4 X 800 relay (9:57.23). Messiah’s distance medley relay team of Kooser, Weaner, sophomore Inna Potekhina and freshman Megan Sisson claimed second-place honors in a time of 12:50.47, while Martin scored four points in the 800-meter dash, finishing fourth overall in a time of 2:28.83.

Junior Delilah Ruiz captured second place in the 55-meter hurdles (:08.79) to back Bates’ efforts, while sophomore Laura Carbone took fifth place (:09.51). That trio helped the team to 20 points in the hurdles event alone. Ruiz also grabbed third in the long jump for Messiah, sailing a distance of 15 feet, 11 and ¾ inches.

“It was a really good day for us collectively,” Fogelsanger said. “We had high expectations coming into today, and I think we did a good job of bringing up our intensity to match those.”

Bates will next compete at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships, hosted by Ohio Northern University on March, 14-15. Kipe (triple jump), Simmons (high jump) and Roach (400-meters) have all hit the provisional marks for qualification into the meet, and will find out whether their marks will hold for actual qualification next Monday, when the fields are finally set. Check back to this website for updates to those scenarios as they become known.