READING, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley men's indoor track and field team made program history on Saturday as the Dutchmen won the Middle Atlantic Conference Championship behind five gold medal performances on the final day of the conference championship at Alvernia University's Flynn PLEX.
 
Head coach Melissa Byler was voted as Coach of the Year while assistant coach James O'Brien was voted as the Assistant Coach of the Year after his distance runners scored 43 points including gold medals in the 800 meters, the 3000 meters, and the 4x800 meter relay. LVC finished atop the team standings with 104 points. Widener University was second with 91 points while Stevens Institute of Technology was third with 79.5 points. Day one leader, DeSales University, was fourth with 75 points and Misericordia University rounded out the top five with 69 points.
 
Saturday's track events started out with Vinny Ferrizzi scoring a point with an eighth-place finish in the mile with a time of 4:25.07. Eric Shelton had a career best time of 4:32.43 to finish 11th while Aden Davis ran 4:43.43 to finish 15th. The Dutchmen then picked up a big 19 points in the 60-meter hurdles finals to take their first lead in the team standings. Zach Reed won in 8.31 seconds to score 10 points and earn First Team All-MAC honors. Kadan Smith was third in 8.43 seconds to score six points and earn Third Team honors. Daniel Murtha scored three points with a sixth-place finish in 8.56 seconds. Murtha qualified for the AARTFC Championships with his time in the final.
 
Donovan Goundie scored a point for the Dutchmen in the 400 meters as he finished eighth in a career-best 51.76 seconds. His time is 10th on the program's top 10 list. Owen Linder gave LVC another point in the 60-meter final as he finished eighth in 7.18 seconds. The Dutchmen started to build momentum on the track in the 800 meters as Elijah McKell used a big final lap to take home his second overall MAC title in the event, and first indoors, with a time of 1:54.40. McKell sat in third at the 400 mark and took the lead on the straightaway heading into the final lap before winning by a little over a second. The sophomore scored a big 10 points and earned First Team All-MAC honors with his victory.
 
The next event up on the track was the 200 meters where Linder came back and scored two points with a career-best time of 22.80 seconds to finish seventh. His second career-best time of the meet moves him up from fifth to third in the program record book. Reed was 10th in 23.01 seconds. One of the most exciting victories on the afternoon came next in the 3000 meters as sophomore Sam Rothstein used a big kick down the last 50 meters and passed three runners to win by 0.14 seconds in 8:48.03. The gold medal scored LVC 10 big points and earned Rothstein First Team honors. Donnie Miller had a career best time of 9:13.27 to finish 18th while Matthew Santana was 21st in 9:16.18. Dylan Lenhart finished 22nd with a time of 9:16.86 and Joe Chukoskie was right behind him with a time of 9:16.61.
 
The distance team struck gold again in the next race as the 4x800 meter relay team edged out Stevens at the line for another 10 points and First Team honors. The team of Ryan O'Byrne, Alec Di Cesare, Lukas Walko, and McKell put the Dutchmen on the brink of clinching the team trophy with a time of 8:01.39 while Widener did not score at all in the event. Their time is fifth in program history. McKell got the baton in third and took the lead going into the final lap before holding off Stevens at the line to win by 0.14 seconds. The final event on the track was the 4x400 meters where the team of Linder, Goundiie, Matt Bruchak, and Reed finished second in 3:27.10 to score eight points and earn Second Team honors. Their time is fifth in program history.
 
LVC only scored points in one of the four field events that were contested on Saturday, but it was another gold medal as Ayden Stankus won his first MAC Championship in the pole vault. Stankus did not enter the competition until all other vaulters had fouled out. However, the junior calmly cleared 4.20 meters on his first attempt to claim first. He then finished with a height of 4.43 meters (14'6.25") on his second attempt to earn First Team honors. The sophomore took three tries at the school record and a career-best but was unable to clear the mark.
 
Graison Michajluk was 12th in the high jump with a height of 1.73 meters (5'8") while Alex Sabo was 14th with a height of 1.68 meters (5'6"). Josh Otto was 11th in the triple jump with a mark of 12.86 meters (42'2.25") on his third jump. Ian Paul led six Dutchmen in the shot put with a career-best throw of 13.26 meters (43'6") on his second attempt to finish 11th. Trey Reynolds was 13th with a mark of 13.21 meters (43'4.25") on his first toss while Cody Shay had a career-best mark of 13.03 meters (42'9") on his first throw to finish 15th. Aonghas Evanick was 19th with a throw of 12.59 meters (41'3.75") on his second attempt, Luke Tobin threw 12.18 meters (39'11.5") on his second try to finish 21st, and Nick Guerieri was 26th with a toss of 12.12 meters (39'9.25") on his third attempt.
 
Sabo finished the heptathlon with a career-best 3890 points to finish fourth and score five points. He started Saturday with a career-best time of 11.61 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles to score 278 points. He then had a career-best height of 3.30 meters (10'10") in the pole vault to score 431 points. Sabo finished off the day with a time of 3:18.56 in the 1000 meters to score 494 points. Sabo moved up to second from fifth in the program record books with his career-best point total.
 
Michajluk also had a career-best point total as he recorded two career-bests during Saturday's three events to finish ninth in the heptathlon with 3562 points. He started the day with a career-best 60-meter hurdle time of 10.58 seconds to score 437 points. He then had a height of 2.60 meters (8'6.25") in the pole vault to score 264 points before finishing up with a career-best 1000 time of 3:04.48 to score 621 points.
 
LVC will compete at the AARTFC Championships next weekend on Friday and Saturday at the Golisano Training Center in Rochester, New York.
 
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