Reading, PA (February 23, 2024) - On Friday, the DeSales University men's track & field team kicked off the MAC Indoor Championships with some impressive performances at Alvernia University sitting in first place with 32 points.
 
Leading off the meet in the long jump, senior Xavier Phoenix finished first place overall with a mark of 6.93m. Graduate student Sidney Walker finished sixth place overall with a personal best jump of 6.50m. Phoenix and Walker combined for 13 points in the event.

Moving to the track, the distance-medley relay finished in third place with a time of 10:22.61. First-year Jozef Callano led off the squad with a 3:12 split in the 1200 leg. First-year Colin Marsh then split a 52 out of the 400 leg. Senior Ben Phillippy followed up with an 800-meter split of 1:59. Closing out the relay, sophomore Davis Trump ran a 4:19 in the 1600-meter, beating Messiah to the finish line with a lean. The relay team qualified for the AARTFC Regional Championship.
 
In the 60-meter hurdles trials, junior Sam Estherson took fifth place overall with a time of 8.58, qualifying for the finals and posting a massive personal best. With his performance, Estherson moved up to second in school history and qualified for the AARTFC Regional Championship.
 
Moving to the 60-meter dash trials, senior Kyle Dunbar ran a personal best and won the second heat with a time of 6.96 to secure first place overall. With his performance, Dunbar tied the fastest time in school history. Senior Logan Berner also finished first overall out of the first heat with a time of 7.00, good for third place overall. He set a big personal best, improving upon his fourth-place time in school history. Both Dunbar and Berner qualified for the finals tomorrow.

In the 5000-meter, senior Shane Artis finished second place overall with a time of 15:09.90, an indoor personal best that improved upon his fourth fastest time in school history. Artis secured eight points with his performance.

Rounding out the events for day one of the conference championship, the 4x200 meter relay took fourth place overall with a time of 1:32.43. The team comprised of Berner, Dunbar, Wilson, and McCulloch won a wire-to-wire race in the first heat to earn five points for the team.
 
The Bulldogs will look to hold onto their lead in the second day of events tomorrow, beginning at 1:30 with the triple jump. Check out the livestream here and the results here.