READING (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University men's indoor track and field team opened its 2021 campaign in style at the Golden Wolves Rust Buster hosted by Alvernia University as the Aggies took home four first place finishes and a second place showing.
No team scoring was held at the event, but a number of men impressed for DelVal.
Sprinter Jonathan St. Hilaire got things started for the Aggies with a first place finish in the men's 60-meter. He ran a 7.14 in the qualifiers and duplicated that effort with a 7.16 in the finals to earn first place ahead of a pack of runners at 7.30 seconds and worse.
First-year Justin Kaufman ran the fastest 800-meter on record at Delaware Valley finishing at 2:04.22 to earn first place overall. Kaufman was over eight seconds faster than the next runner. Senior Ethan Berberabe also competed for the Aggies in the event and finished third out of four at 2:19.6.
In a crowded field at the men's 200-meter run, DelVal placed a pair of men inside the top-5 including first-year Messiah Smythe who brought home the gold medal with a first place showing of 23.46 seconds. Senior teammate Logan Cooper finished fourth at 23.89 seconds. First-year Robert Kest also had a nice showing with a mark of 25.41 seconds, 12th out of 19 finishers.
The quartet of Cooper, Berberabe, Kaufman, and Smythe took home first place as one of three teams competing in the men's 4x400-meter relay. The Aggies finished in 3:41.64 to beat out Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) foes from Albright and Arcadia.
St. Hilaire's mark in the 60-meter qualified him for the conference championships while Cooper and Smythe each qualified with their performances in the 200-meter. DelVal will get back to practice before taking to the track again at the turn of the semester on January 15th at TCNJ.
