Concord Finishes Sxith at MEC Championships, Five Earn All-MEC

Results

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Concord University men's track & field team placed sixth at the Mountain East Conference Outdoor Championships that wrapped up Tuesday at Mylan Park.

Concord scored 69 points as it was three points away from a top-five finish.

Five athletes earned All-MEC honors throughout the week, highlighted by senior Ian Gardner racing his way to the conference championship in the 400-meter dash Tuesday afternoon. Gardner broke the school record in a time of 47.63 seconds to eclipse a 21-year old record set by CU Hall of Fame member DeWayne Smith at 47.78 seconds.

After being the runner-up in the 400-meters multiple times in his career, Gardner was able to hold off West Virginia State's Tyler Minter by 0.04 seconds to claim his first career MEC title.

Senior Ethan Board made a late charge in the 800-meter dash, but was clipped by 0.01 seconds by Ryan Rasco of Davis & Elkins. Board made his first career podium in the 800-meters as he ran a time of 1:53.91 and finished second.

Together, Board and Gardner teamed up with freshmen Aaron Miller and Brady Prior to place third in the 4x400-meter relay and earn All-MEC Honorable Mention in the process. The quartet combined to run 3:18.16.

And the final All-MEC performer for Concord was freshman Luke Davis who placed second in the decathlon that was contested Sunday and Monday. Davis scored 5,863 points.

Other scorers on Tuesday for the Mountain Lions were senior Logan Zuchelli and sophomore Braden Ward in the 5,000-meter run. Zuchelli crossed in 15:18.20 for sixth while Ward came throughout in 15:21.01 to secure seventh.

Prior joined Gardner in the scoring in the 400-meters as he clocked 48.93 seconds to finish fourth.

Gardner and Prior also ran the 4x100-meter relay with junior Devon Banks and freshman Jaden Judge as the foursome clocked 42.66 seconds on their way to a fifth-place showing.

The MEC announced their year-end awards after the meet. The MEC MVP was Point Park's Akeem Mustapha who was also the MEC Field Athlete of the Year. PPU freshman Kamar Sutherland was the MEC Freshman of the Year. And West Liberty's Hunter Patterson was the MEC Track Athlete of the Year. 

Charleston's Nick Bias was voted as the MEC Coach of the Year.