READING, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley men's 4x400 relay team finished first to propel the indoor track and field team to a second-place team finish out of 16 teams on the final day of the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships in Reading. The second place finish is the best the men's team has ever finished at the MAC Indoor Championships.
 
LVC entered the final event in third place and the huge 10 points catapulted the team into second with 103.5 total points over the two days. Messiah University won the team title with 107.5 points. Widener University was third with 100 points. Stevenson University finished fourth with 75 points and DeSales University was fifth with 62 points.
 
The team of Daniel Sheffield, Daniel Murtha, Owen Linder, and Zach Reed won the program's second title of the meet with a time of 3:31.41 to earn All-MAC First Team honors. Eric Shelton began the day on the track with a time of 4:44.81 in the mile to finish 21st. The Dutchmen then scored 19 points in the 60-meter hurdles with second, third, and fourth. Reed was second to earn All-MAC Second Team honors with a time of 8.41 seconds. Kadan Smith ran a career best time of 8.57 seconds to finish third and earn Third Team honors. His time is sixth in the program record books. Murtha was fourth with a time of 8.58 seconds to score five points.
 
Matt Bruchak won his heat and ran a time of 52.94 seconds in the 400 meters to finish 10th. Donovan Goundie was 11th in a career best 53.00 seconds. Linder finished seventh in the 60 meters final to score two points with a time of 7.25 seconds. Alec Di Cesare earned All-MAC Third Team honors in the 800 meters with a third-place finish in a career best 1:57.15. He also qualified for the AARTFC Championships with his time and moved up to fifth from seventh in the program record books. Caleb Scarborough ran 2:05.59 to finish 24th.
 
Linder came back and ran 23.21 seconds in to 200 meters to finish on the podium in eighth. Noah Griffin just missed his second title of the weekend with a time of 8:44.25 in the 3000 meters to finish second by two seconds. He earned All-MAC Second Team honors with the second-best time of his career. Sam Rothstein was fourth with a career best time of 8:47.86 to score five points. His time is second in program history behind Griffin's career best and an AARTFC Championships qualifier. Jordan Berger was 12th running his second career best time of the weekend in 8:58.20 and Joe Chukoskie was 26th crossing the line in 9:14.68. Berger's time is eighth in the program record books. Donnie Miller was the fifth Dutchman in the event and ran 9:28.00. The 4x800 relay team of Andy Loy, Elijah McKell, Vinny Ferrizzi, and Di Cesare was second in 8:04.25 to score eight points and earn All-MAC Second Team honors. The time is fifth in program history.
 
Trey Reynolds reached the podium in the shot put with a toss of 13.93 meters (45'8.50") on his first attempt to finish eighth and score one point. Will Fisher was ninth with a throw of 13.60 meters (44'7.50") on his fifth toss. Ian Paul was 14th with a career best mark of 12.80 meters (42'0") on his third throw. Cody Shay had a toss of 12.44 meters (40'9.75") on his third attempt to finish 18th while Wyatt Hetrick was 19th with a throw of 12.14 meters (39'10") on his second toss. Josh Otto was 15th in the triple jump with a mark of 12.10 meters (39'8.50") on his third jump. Gabriel Vellios finished fifth in the high jump to score four points with a height of 1.78 meters (5'10").
 
Alex Sabo finished sixth in the heptathlon to score three team points with a career best score of 3732 points while Michael De Falcis was eighth to score one point with a score of 3297 points. Sabo's career best point total is fifth in the school record book. Sabo began Saturday's three events with a time of 11.70 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles to score 266 points. He then had a height of 3.10 meters (10'2") in the pole vault to score 381 points. Sabo wrapped things up with a time of 3:15.15 in the 1000 meters to score 523 points. DeFalcis had a time of 10.28 seconds in the 60 hurdles to core 489 points before recording a height of 2.20 meters (7'2.50") in the pole vault to score 179 points. He finished the day with a career best time of 3:21.64 in the 1000 to score 468 points.
 
The major award winners were:
Men's Track Athlete of the Year: Logan Horst, Messiah
Men's Field Athlete of the Year: Xavier Pheonix, DeSales
Men's Rookie of the Year: Louka Fetter, Messiah
Men's Assistant Coach of the Year: Kylie Ryan, Stevenson
Men's Coach of the Year: Dale Fogelsanger, Messiah
 
The Dutchmen will be back in action next weekend at the AARTFC Championships at The Armory in New York City.

Stay Connected
Be sure to follow @lvcathletics on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for the most in-depth coverage of LVC Athletics.