READING, Pa. – Noah Griffin pushed the pace early and led almost the entire race to win the 5000 meters on the first day of the Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships for Lebanon Valley College on Friday.
 
The Dutchmen sit in second place after the first day with 36.5 points and are within striking distance of Widener University in first with 45 points. Messiah University is third with 29.5 points, DeSales University is fourth with 21 points, and Stevens Institute of Technology rounds out the top five with 18 points.
 
Griffin raced right to the front of the pack from the gun and paced the pack for the first mile. Messiah's Louka Fetter moved ahead of Griffin for about a lap and a half during the final mile, but Griffin surged ahead and finished in 14:55.38 to win the MAC title and earn First Team honors. His team is a career best and beats his previous school record time of 15:15.46 he ran up in Boston a couple of weeks ago. The Dutchmen also received strong races from Jordan Berger, Joe Chukoskie, and Donnie Miller in the 5K. Berger ran a career best 15:24.97 to finish ninth. His time is third in program history and qualifies him for the AARTFC Championships. Chukoskie had a time of 15:52.08 to finish 15th and Miller ran a career best 16:13.92 to finish seventh in the first heat and 23rd overall.
 
Ayden Stankus earned All-MAC Second Team honors with a second place finish in the pole vault. The sophomore finished at a height of 4.35 meters (14'3.25"). Darren Rodoff scored 4.5 points for the Dutchmen as he tied for fourth at a season best 4.00 meters (13'1.50").
 
The Dutchmen team of Andy Loy, Matt Bruchak, Elijah McKell, and Vinny Ferrizzi finished fifth in the distance medley relay with a time of 10:41.62 to score four points. LVC put three in the 60-meter hurdles finals with three of the top four times of the day. Daniel Murtha had the fastest time while winning the first heat in a career best 8.50 seconds. Zach Reed won the third heat in 8.52 seconds while Kadan Smith was second in the first heat and fourth overall with a career best 8.59 seconds. Murtha and Smith traded places on the program's top 10 list with Murtha moving up to fifth and Smith now sixth. The trio will try to sweep the medals in Saturday's final.
 
Owen Linder was the last qualifier for Saturday's 60 meters finals with a career best time of 7.15 seconds. He was second in his heat and just edged Widener's Dereck Darden for the final spot. Linder's time is third in program history. The 4x200 relay team of Linder, Murtha, Donavan Goundie, and Reed was seventh in 1:34.89 to score two points.
 
Trey Reynolds reached the podium with a fifth place finish in the weight throw with a toss of 15.87 meters (52'1") on his first attempt of the day. Cody Shay was 12th with a mark of 12.60 meters (41'4.25") on his first throw. Wyatt Hetrick had a career best toss of 12.29 meters (40'4") on his third attempt to finish 17th. Daniel Sheffield finished fifth in the long jump to score four points with a career best mark of 6.64 meters (21'9.50") on his third jump. His jump is tied for seventh in program history. Josh Otto had a jump of 6.29 meters (20'7.75") on his third attempt to finish 10th. Stankus jumped 6.08 meters (19'11.50") on his third attempt to finish 16th.
 
Alex Sabo got off to a great start in the indoor heptathlon with 2562 points through the first four events. He is in second place out of eight. Sabo started the day by finishing second in the 60 meters with a career best time of 7.33 seconds to score 769 points. He then had a mark of 6.16 meters (20'2.50") in the long jump on his second jump to score 621 points. Sabo had a career best shot put mark of 12.62 meters (41'5") on his first throw to top the field. He then finished with a high jump of 1.68 meters (5'6") to score 528 points.
 
Michael De Falcis is seventh in the heptathlon after the first day with 2161 points. He was fourth in the 60 meters with a career best time of 7.45 seconds to score 729 points. He then hit a long jump mark of 5.50 meters (18'0.50") on second jump to score 481 points. De Falcis threw the shot put a career best 11.63 meters (38'2") on his second attempt to score 584 points. He wrapped up the day with a height of 1.47 meters (4'9.75") to score 367 points. The heptathlon will wrap up on Saturday with the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault, and 1000 meters.
 
Day two action will get underway at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning.

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