YORK, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley Outdoor Track and Field teams got off to a great start at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships on Thursday as Joe Chukoskie won the men's 10,000 meters and the women's 4x800 meter relay team finished first to give LVC two event wins at York College of Pennsylvania.
 
The Dutchmen men are second through four events with 30 points. York is first with 31.5 points behind a strong performance in the pole vault. Widener is third with 23 points, Messiah is fourth with 21 points, and Misericordia rounds out the top five with 18 points. The women's squad is tied for third with 12 points. King's College leads through three events with 21 points behind a strong performance in the hammer. Widener is a close second with 20 points. Misericordia also has 12 points while Messiah rounds out the top five with 11 points.
 
The team of Sierra Kapcsos, Abigail Hunt, Kyrianna Nemitz, and Autumn Garges gave LVC its first gold medal of the weekend and 10 points as they ran the sixth fastest time in program history to finish first in the 4x800 relay with a time of 9:31.14. Kapcsos had a strong opening leg to give the Dutchmen a lead that was never relinquished at the remaining handoffs. The men's 4x800 team of Lukas Walko, Sam Rothstein, Alec Di Cesare, and Elijah McKell finished second to score eight points with a time of 7:45.02. Their time is second in the program record books.
 
Chukoskie won the 10,000 meters in 31:13.46 to claim his second MAC Title of the year after winning the 5,000 meters at the Indoor Championships. Chukoskie won by 11 seconds to score 10 points. Matthew Santana gave the Dutchmen two points with a seventh-place finish in 32:21.35. Dylan Lenhart was 12th in 33:25.65, Liam Allen ran 34:07.52 to finish 16th, and Aden Davis had a time of 34:56.07 to finish 22nd. Charlee Jurtz finished on the podium in the women's 10,000 with a time of 40:52.32 to finish eighth and score one point. Christine Wagner was 11th in 42:07.82 while Dani Fetterolf ran 42:37.35 to finish 12th. Caroline Borleis was 19th with a time of 44:05.70 and Madison Eroh rounded out the Dutchmen in 22nd with a time of 47:10.78.
 
Ayden Stankus finished third in the men's pole vault to score six points with a height of 4.52 meters (14'10"). Grant Smith was tied for 10th at a season-best 3.87 meters (12'8.25"). Aonghas Evanick scored three points in the men's hammer with a sixth-place finish at a career-best 49.07 meters (161'0") on his third throw. His mark moved him up to fourth in the program record books. Nick Guerieri was eighth to score one point with a career-best mark of 46.25 meters (151'9") on his third attempt. His throw is eighth on the program's Top 10 List. Bo Wheeler had a season-best toss of 37.42 meters (122'9") on his third throw to finish 26th. Lauren Assane scored one point with an eighth-place finish in the women's hammer with a career-best throw of 44.02 meters (144'5") on her fourth attempt. Her mark is fourth in the program record books.
 
Anna Sawicki leads the heptathlon after four events with 2836 points while Carolina Wegman is third with 2086 points. Sawicki started the day with a career-best time of 16.08 seconds in the 100 hurdles to score 704 points. Her time is eighth in the program record books. She cleared a career-best 1.61 meters (5'3.25") in the high jump for 747 points and threw the shot put a career-best 11.97 meters (39'3.25") for 659 points. Her high jump height is fourth while her shot put mark is third on the program's Top 10 List. Sawicki finished the day with a career-best time of 26.83 seconds in the 200 meters for 726 points. Wegman ran a career-best 19.19 seconds in the 100 hurdles for 373 points, had a career-best height of 1.58 meters (5'2.25") in the high jump for 712 points, recorded a career-best throw of 9.04 meters (29'8") in the shot put for 467 points, and ran 29.27 seconds in the 200 meters for 534 points. Wegman's high jump height is tied for seventh in program history.
 
Graison Michajluk is fourth with 3067 points after the first five events of the Decathlon while Ethan Rush is 13th with 2213 points. Michajluk started with a. time of 12.09 seconds in the 100 meters to score 633 points. He then had a long jump mark of 5.59 meters to score 500 points, had a career-best shot put throw of 12.62 meters (41'5") to score 644 points, cleared 1.80 meters (5'10.75") in the high jump to score 627 points, and ran a career-best 53.44 seconds in the 400 meters to score 633 points. Rush had a 100-meter time of 12.73 seconds to score 515 points, a career-best mark of 5.22 meters in the long jump to score 425 points, a shot put toss of 7.85 meters (25'9.25") to score 357 points, a career-best height of 1.56 meters (5'1.25") In the high jump to score 434 points, and a time of 58.05 seconds in the 400 to score 482 points.

The Championships will resume on Friday morning at 9:15 a.m. with the second day of action.

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