YORK (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University men's and women's outdoor track and field teams wrapped up the 2023 regular season by competing at the three-day Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championship meet at York College over the weekend.
The Aggies were led by the men's 4x400-meter relay team that took home second place to lift the men's team to a tied-11th finish out of 16 programs, while the women's side finished 13th of 16.
The program enjoyed three days of good weather for the first time nearly all season, and took advantage of the conditions.
Graduate student Logan Cooper made his final appearance at the conference championships and looked to lead the men's 4x400-meter relay team to a second-consecutive gold medal. Sophomore Matt O'Dunlami joined Cooper as the two returners from last year's relay team and they welcomed first-year Caleb Messenger and sophomore Moses Madison to this year's squad. The group ran fast, clocking a 3:21.05 to best last year's time by over four seconds and set a new personal best. However, the team from Widener edged out the Aggies with their time of 3:18.99 to swipe first place.
Cooper helped himself to another PR in the individual 400-meter heat with a mark of 48.95 seconds, good enough for fourth overall and five points for the team. Widener's Samuel Knowles led the pack with a 47.55 second mark. O'Dunlami also placed in the 400-meter with a time of 50.52 seconds to earn a spot inside the top-8. In the prelims the day before, O'Dunlami set a new personal-best in the 400-meter with a time of 50.03 seconds. Also in the prelims, Madison reached a new PR in the same event, and narrowly missed qualifying for the finals with a time of 52.29 seconds.
In the men's 800-meter prelims, Messenger ran his best race of the season with a mark of 1:57.95, but finished one place out of qualifying for finals.
Another rookie, Wayne Hamilton, impressed in the men's 110-meter hurdles. In the prelims on Friday, Hamilton posted a personal-best 15.73 second finish to earn sixth of 10 and qualify for Saturday's final. That mark also punched Hamilton's ticket to the regional tournament. Unfortunately, Hamilton withdrew before Saturday's final heat.
Junior Carter Owen competed in the men's 10,000 meter race on Thursday and finished in 35 minutes, 25.89 seconds.
In the field events, it was sophomore Brandon Perot that stood out with his fifth place finish in the men's discus that earned the team four points. The discus finals took place on Friday and on his second attempt Perot launched it 43.23 meters to reach a new personal best and earn his way to the regional tournament.
In the men's shot put, rookie James Mahana led the team with a top-10 finish and Perot followed in 11th. Mahana reached 13.5 meters and Perot reached 13.3 meters, while another rookie, John Mahana threw for 11.7 meters to take 25th overall.
James Mahana also showed in the men's hammer throw and reached 40.37 meters to finish 17th of 27. In the men's javelin, rookie Alex Bessler took home 13th of 15 with a mark of 46.58 meters.
On the women's side, it was junior Alyssa Blackmon that led the way with a personal-best mark in the women's 3,000 meter steeplechase and a top-5 showing to help the team to four points. Blackmon clocked in at 12 minutes, 6.33 seconds to earn fifth of 15 competitors. Widener's Emily Cooney led the event with a time of 11:24.16. Blackmon also competed in the women's 1500-meter on Saturday and clocked a 5:12.79 to finish 17th. In the 5,000-meter, also on Saturday, her mark of 19:36.39 was good for 16th of 22.
Sophomore Delaney Hilferty scored two points for the team with her performance in the shot put. Hilferty reached 10.34 meters on her fifth attempt in Saturday's event to earn seventh out of 25 competitors. Fellow Aggies Kaitlyn Jones and Kerrin Long also competed in the shot put and reached marks of 9.27 meters and 8.96 meters, respectively.
Junior Kelly Hasting competed in five different events for DelVal. Individually, she ran the 100, 200, and 400-meter race and earned three top-20 finishes. Her time of 13.46 seconds in the 100 was a personal best and she clocked a 27.26 in the 200-meter and a 1:03.09 in the 400-meters.
Hastings also ran with the 4x400 team and the 4x800 team. The former finished with a time of 4:29.8 seconds and included Jaida Wilson, Chantae Newman and Molly Laird, while the latter recorded a 10.36.68 mark and included Laird, Wilson, and Hastings, joined by Blackmon.
Messiah won the men's title with 132 team points followed by Lebanon Valley (125) and Widener (109). On the women's side, Widener claimed the top-team spot with 148 points followed by Misericordia (139) and Stevens (123).
