Results
GLENVILLE, W.Va. – The Concord University men's track & field team placed fourth at the Mountain East Conference Championships that came to a conclusion Tuesday afternoon from Morris Stadium.
The Mountain Lions edged out West Liberty for fourth place with 89 points as WLU finished with 88 points. Charleston was the team champion with 217 points.
The final day of competition for CU was highlighted by two conference champions.
Senior
Issac Prather was the named the Mountain East Conference Track Athlete of the Year and the MEC Championship MVP. The Summersville, West Virginia native is the second MEC Track of the Year in program history and the third MVP/High Point. It marked the second straight season CU had the MEC Championship MVP after
Jason Weitzel grabbed the same honor last year.
Prather finished up his historic MEC Championship by winning the 5,000-meter run in a time of 15:32.55. Prather ran by Charleston's Matthew Forrester in the final 250 meters to win by three seconds. Prather also won the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 10,000-meter run on days one and two of the MEC Championship, becoming the first runner in the nine-year history of the MEC to sweep the three-longest disciplines on the oval.
The only previous CU runners to win even the 5,000-meters and 10,000-meters at the same conference meet were Takube Abe (2004) and Robby Peters (2013).
After being ranked first in the MEC in the 400-meter hurdles for much of the season, and sporting the top qualification time, fifth-year senior
Marcus Wilson captured the MEC title by clocking 54.87 seconds. Wilson surged down the stretch to outlast Glenville State's Haden Coon by 0.39 seconds.
Concord's second-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay team allowed the Maroon and Gray to push past West Liberty for fourth in the team standings. The quartet of freshman
Ethan Board, freshman
Ian Gardner, junior
Alex Watty and Wilson combined to run 3:22.30.
Gardner and Watty were both podium finishers in their individual events.
Gardner held on for a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash as he clocked 48.46 seconds. Watty placed third in the 800-meter run as he sported a time of 1:56.66. Board was eighth in the 800-meters as he clocked 2:10.88.
Elsewhere in the 5,000-meters, freshman
Logan Zuchelli gave Concord two podium finishers as he finished in 15:36.87 to place third. Fifth-year senior
Samuel Haynes notched a 10
th-place showing in 16:33.31. Senior
Cedric Drennen was 14
th in a time of 17:31.36.
Drennen placed fourth in the 1,500-meter run as he clocked 4:01.97. Fifth-year senior
Raheem Williams came through in 12
th as he finished in 4:16.13.
The 4x100-meter relay team of junior
Robbie Cochran, Gardner, freshman
Terryn Patterson-Bryant and senior
Hunter Thomas finished eighth in 43.53 seconds.
Along with Prather, the rest of the MEC Awards went to West Liberty's Adam O'Donnell (Field Athlete), Charleston's Noah Revels (Freshman) and Charleston's Nick Bias (Coach).
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