BETHLEHEM (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University indoor track and field teams opened the 2022-23 season at the two-day Fast Times Before Finals meet hosted at Division I Lehigh University this weekend.
The Aggies saw nine student-athletes qualify for the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championship meet in late February including four women and five men.
Sophomore Justin Kaufman highlighted the day with a record-setting performance in the men's 800-meter run. Kaufman, who ran a 2:01.89 and last year's MAC Indoor Championships, bested his time on Saturday with a sub-2 minute, 1:59.33. That mark set a new program record, and was good for sixth place yesterday, and the second best finish among Division III competitors.
Another program record was reached in the men's 4x800 meter relay that featured graduate student Logan Cooper, junior Carter Owen, and first-years Matthew Skikus and Brance Fronheiser. The squad finished with a time of 8:55.2.
Cooper showed he was rounding back into form after coming off an injury as he finished in sixth place in the men's 400-meter run yesterday. His time of 52.62 seconds was the top among Division III competitors and qualified him for the MAC Championships.
Joining Cooper as a qualifier in the men's 400-meter was first-year Caleb Messenger with his finish of 53.69 seconds. Messenger finished 10th out of 18 athletes.
Junior Moses Madison earned his way to the MAC Championships in the 60-meter dash. Madison narrowly missed his personal best with a time of 23.93 seconds to earn 16th place out of 28 competitors, and sixth among Division III runners.
Junior Wayne Hamilton, competing in his first even with the Aggies, showed well in the men's 60-meter hurdles and earned his way to the conference championships. Hamilton ran a 9.27 in the prelims and then a 9.38 in the finals to earn sixth overall.
On the women's side, sophomore Kait Jones qualified in the weight throw, first-year Paige Thompson qualified in the triple jump, junior Alysia Joseph qualified in the 400-meter, and sophomore Kerrin Long qualified in the shot put to round out the squad's early qualifiers.
Jones narrowly missed her personal-best throw with a mark of 13.42 meters, but impressively finished second overall yesterday. The field featured 14 student-athletes and Jones was the top Division III finisher.
Thompson, competing in her first collegiate event, set a new program record and qualified for the conference championships in the triple jump. Thompson leaped 9.84 meters to earn 12th overall and fourth out of Division III athletes.
Long, a sophomore competing with DelVal for the first year, earned her way to the MAC Championships in the shot put with a toss of 9.92 meters to finish seventh of 15 competitors and fourth among Division III athletes.
Joseph, a junior, ran a 1:04.27 400-meter to punch her ticket to the conference championships and a top-10 finish in yesterday's event. Joseph was the top finisher among five Division III athletes.
There was no team scoring at the event.
The Aggies will resume competition next semester when they visit Alvernia University on Saturday, January 14.
