Huntington, W. Va. – Two individual conference champions, eight podium All-MEC finishes, twenty-five conference scorers, and a NCAA Provisional time highlighted a great two-days at the MEC Indoor Championships for the D&E men's track team.
Jackson Gibson gave the Senators their first conference champion of the meet, winning the Mile event in 4:13.68. Gibson went through the 800m in the tactical race around 2:12-13 and closed the race at nearly 2-flat for the last 800 meters. Gibson's title was followed by a podium finish from his brother Cooper Gibson (third, 4:15). Five D&E runners in total took the 8 scoring spots in the event along with Carter McKenna (fourth, 4:15), Slate Swiger (sixth, 4:18), and Konnor Allison (eighth, 4:20).
Jackson Gibson followed up the Mile title with a runner-up finish in the 800m with teammate Ryan Rasco also finishing on the podium in third place. Both Senators had the exact same time (1:55).
Charlie Stephenson was the final champion of the day, winning the 3000m in a school record 8:22.46 and outkicking two runners that had held him off the night before in the 5000m. Carter McKenna had his second fourth place finish of the meet, doubling back from the Mile to finish in 8:29.34. Stephenson and McKenna's times also currently rank #2 and #5 in the Atlantic Region (top-5 positions are All-Region).
Friday night, Stephenson ran a NCAA Provisional time (14:25) in the 5000m to finish third Place and on the podium. The time broke his own school record and currently is #3 in the Atlantic Region. Thijs Terlouw (fourth, 14:45) and Jan Thewes (sixth, 14:53) also were D&E scorers in the 5000m.
Later that evening was a conference runner up finish for the Distance Medley Relay of Jackson Gibson, Ryan Rasco, Cooper Gibson, Carter McKenna as the group ran 10:07.92 to earn their All-MEC podium finish.
In the Senators' only non-distance individual event of the championships, freshman Ian Wood ran back-to-back PR races (8.75 in prelim and 8.71 in final) to score in the 60m Hurdles final, finishing in eighth place!
The final event of the weekend was the 4x400m relay. The group of Ian Wood, Cooper Gibson, Slate Swiger, and Ryan Rasco battled to a seventh place scoring finish in 3:30.
In what was a remarkable team finish, only competing in 7 of the 17 events at the championships, the Senators men finished fourth place out of nine conference programs. This was the highest team finish in program history in a conference track championship meet. The men scored a remarkable 76 of their 79 total points in the distance events, by far the most distance points in the meet.
Men's Full Event Results
