MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The Geneva College men's track and field team joined the women's squad by winning the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Outdoor Championship on Friday, giving the men's team a third title this season, adding to the PAC Cross Country Championship and PAC Indoor Track and Field Championship the program has already won this year.  It didn't come easy, though, as the Golden Tornadoes had to overcome a late deficit to Grove City with a flurry of standout performances before winning by 7.5 points, finishing with a total of 145.5 points.  In fact, the men's and women's Geneva program became the first school in conference history to win all six championships in one season, completing the history-making trifecta.

The outdoor meet began on Thursday, with graduate student Jack Garvin's second-place finish in the javelin and sophomore Matt Otto's second-place finish in the 10000m highlighting the opening day's performance.  Senior Eli Eisenberger added a third-place finish in the 10000m race, while senior Tommy Corbin finished fourth in the race.  Freshmen Amiri Copeland and Cooper Wilkins also had a strong opening day, finishing third and fourth, respectively, in the triple jump.

Despite those strong opening-day performances, the men entered the final day trailing Grove City in the standings, who was Geneva's toughest competition throughout the meet.  In fact, the Golden Tornadoes trailed for much of the day to the Wolverines, with things even looking questionable at times.  However, the men's performance in the 5000m race, which was the second-to-last event of the day, turned the momentum.

Geneva far-outperformed their expected point total in the 5000m race, with Eisenberger running a tremendous race to defeat W&J's heavily favored Dom Flitcraft with a time of 15:08.74, while Otto placed third with a personal best time of 15:17.00 and sophomore Ethan Haring came in fourth with a personal best time of 15:22.11.  That turned a seven-point Geneva deficit to Grove City into a 5.5-point Geneva lead heading into the final event, the 4x400m relay.

The Golden Tornadoes needed to finish no worse than fourth in the 4x400m relay to secure the title, and Geneva entered the event with the fourth-best time among PAC schools.  The men left no doubt, though, leading from start to finish in setting a school record time of 3:20.07.  Sophomore Abe Konneh led off, followed by freshman Tyler Boyle and senior Seth Tyson, and freshman Titus Mathews held off Grove City's Alex Mitchell, the top 400m runner in conference history, down the stretch to clinch the title, setting off a wild dogpile by the men's team at the end of the track.

Geneva received a number of strong performances throughout the meet.  Konneh, who was named the Men's Outdoor Most Valuable Track Performer for the men's runner who scored the most points, won the 200m race with a time of 21.69 seconds, while also adding a second-place finish in the 100m race with a time of 10.74 seconds.  Additionally in the sprints, freshman Judah Abram placed fifth in the 100m race with a time of 11.12 seconds, while freshmen Alex Mastoris finished seventh with a time of 11.33 seconds. 

The men opened the day with a school record time in the 4x100m relay, finishing second overall with a time of 41.23 seconds.  Konneh, Abram, Mastoris and freshman Karim Ouardirhi ran on that relay.

Additionally in the sprints, Mathews added a fourth-place finish in the 400m race with a time of 49.20 seconds, while Boyle set a personal best time of 49.26 seconds to finish fifth, despite not running in the fastest heat.  Freshman Ryan Kosydar added a fourth-place finish in the 400m hurdles with a time of 56.18 seconds, a personal best.

Haring added to his performance in the 5000m race with a second-place finish in the 3000m steeplechase, finishing with a time of 9:45.85.  Senior Evan Freil great race in the 3000m steeplechase as well, finishing seventh with a personal best time of 10:26.08.  Additionally, freshman Niamh McClaflin came up with a big effort in the 800m race, placing eighth with a personal best time of 2:00.89, despite not running in the faster heat.

Garvin was huge in the field events throughout the day.  In addition to his second-place finish in the javelin on Thursday, he placed third in the high jump (1.96 meters), seventh in the triple jump (12.55 meters) and eighth in the long jump (6.39 meters), meaning he scored in four different events.  Also in the jumps, Copeland added to his third-place finish in the triple jump with a fifth-place finish in the long jump, jumping 6.53 meters.

In the throws, freshman Corban Hunter led the way with an eighth-place finish in both the discus (36.72 meters) and shot put (12.65 meters).

Freshman Nathan Bailey added a fifth-place finish in the pole vault by clearing 3.79 meters on Thursday, while freshman Xaver Alexander scored in the 10000m race on Thursday with an eighth-place finish in a personal-best time of 33:34.81.

Friday's PAC Championship brings a conclusion to most of the men's team's historic season.  The lone exception is Konneh, who is in position to qualify for the NCAA Division III National Championship meet again in the 200m race, which will take place later in May.  The men will lose some key distance runners to graduation, along with Garvin, but the Golden Tornadoes are set to return a significant number of contributors from this year's team as they try to extend their run for another season.