YORK, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley track and field teams won three conference championships on the first day of the 2023 Middle Atlantic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at York College of Pennsylvania on Thursday.
 
The men's and women's 4x800 meter relay teams started action on the track with thrilling wins and Noah Griffin won the 10,000 meters. The men's team scored 26 points to sit second after the opening night only trailing Widener University with 32 points. The women scored 15 points and are third behind Misericordia University with 30 points and Widener with 23.
 
The women's 4x800 team of Sierra Kapcsos, Autumn Garges, Coyla Bartholomew, and Lauren Bunke ran the second-fastest time in school history and won by three seconds with a time of 9:20.43 to score 10 points. Kapcsos split 2:21.40, Garges ran a split of 2:20.30, Bartholomew split 2:22.28, and then Bunke closed in a 2:16.44 split for the win. The only time faster in program history is the MAC Championship and overall record of 9:16.48 run in 2014.
 
The men edged out DeSales University at the line with a school record time of 7:42.46. The Bulldogs finished at 7:42.49. Sam Rothstein started things off with a split of 1:56.60. Vinny Ferrizzi split 1:57.13, Alec Di Cesare had a split of 1:55.31, and then Elijah McKell closed in 1:53.40 to give the Dutchmen a sweep in the opening night relays. The squad beat the previous record of 7:45.03 run in 2016 while also coming within a second of the conference record.
 
Anna Donnelly just missed the podium in the women's 10K with an AARTFC qualifying time of 40:21.19. She finished ninth out of 20 runners. Aleah Hoffman had a time of 43:49.87. Griffin scored 10 points for the men's team with a nine-second victory in the men's race. He ran 31:13.81 to earn All-MAC First Team honors. Jordan Berger scored three points in sixth place with a time of 31:47.04. His career best time moves him up to fourth in the program record book. Joe Chukoskie ran an AARTFC qualifying time of 32:32.67 to finish 13th out of 32 runners. His time is ninth on the program's top 10 list.
 
Ashley Bartels finished fourth in the women's hammer with a throw of 44.65 meters (146'") on her fifth attempt to score five points. Lauren Assante was ninth with a career best toss of 42.33 meters (138'10") on her sixth throw. Her mark moves her up from seventh to sixth in the program record book. Caroline Reed threw 36.03 meters (118'2") on her second toss, Mackenze Spence had a mark of 34.23 meters (112'4") on her third attempt, and Meghan Bussey threw 28.74 meters (94'3") on her third throw.
 
Trey Reynolds finished sixth to score three points in the men's competition with a toss of 48.09 meters (157'9") on his second attempt. Wyatt Hetrick had a mark of 42.40 meters (139'1") on his second toss while Cody Shay threw 42.19 meters (138'5") on his third attempt.
 
Alex Sabo is fifth with 3050 points after the first day of the decathlon. He started the afternoon with a time of 11.37 seconds in the 100 meters to score 780 points. He then jumped 5.87 meters (19'3.25") in the long jump to score 559 points. Sabo threw the shot put 12.20 meters (40'0.5") to score 619 points and then jumped 1.67 meters (5'5.75") in the high jump to score 520 points. He finished the day with a time of 55.67 seconds in the 400 meters to score 572 points.
 
Carolina Wegman is ninth in the heptathlon after the first four events with 1797 points. She started with a time of 19.79 seconds in the 100 hurdles to score 320 points. She then jumped 1.50 meters (4'11") in the high jump to score 621 points. Wegman threw the shot put 8.12 meters (26'7.75") to score 407 points before finishing up with a time of 30.48 seconds in the 200 meters to score 449 points.
 
The Championships will continue bright and early on Friday morning with a 9:30 a.m. start time.

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