Team Results |Â
Individual ResultsNewville, PA - Messiah College men's cross country put forth a terrific effort on Saturday with a sixth-place finish at the Division III Mideast Regional at Big Spring H.S.
Jared Schatz led the way with a 12th-place finish, and he has a strong chance at being selected for the NCAA Championships later this month.
"What a great day for the men," head coach
Dale Fogelsanger said. "I don't want to suggest that we're surprised, but we certainly met and exceeded expectations with this finish. They had it in them, and we knew that. It's great to see them put it together."
The men finished sixth after collecting 238 points. Schatz earned his high finish with a time of 25:52.6, and
Cameron Shirk (43rd) was second at 26:30.9.
Kaleb Burch was third for Messiah in 49th place with a time of 26:34.6.
"Jared was unbelieveable," Fogelsanger said. "He put it all together and may have earned a spot at nationals.
"This is very exciting for him and this program."
Messiah's scoring was completed by
Christopher Scheib (26:50.1) and
Benjamin Schott (27:12.2).
Nathaniel Pardoe (28:19.0) and
Joshua Pardoe (28:37.3) rounded out Messiah's seven runners, with four of the seven competitors in their junior year or younger.
Haverford took first with 67 points, and Elizabethtown was second with 93 points. Messiah was the second MAC school behind fifth-place Widener (219), the same order of the rivals as that of the MAC Championship two weeks ago.
The NCAA Championships pool is made up of 32 teams, with each of the 16 regions automatically sending their top two squads. Each region also sends their top seven individual runners not included in the top two teams. Schatz was the eighth such individual runner on Saturday, meaning his only chance to attend is if the Mideast Region is awarded with a third full team.
Schatz and the Falcons will need to wait until Sunday afternoon to see the final bracket for the national event.
