HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Point Park opened the 2026 Mountain East Conference Indoor Championships with six podium finishes, five school records and four NCAA provisional performances on Saturday at Marshall University. Akeem Mustapha highlighted the day with his MEC Championship in the men's long jump, while Cassondra O'Connor and Dunya Van den Tooren finished second in the women's 5000m and pentathlon, respectively. Alexis Heller finished third in the women's shot put, while the Point Park men's and women's DMR teams both took third-place finishes as well.
Musthapa, who was the 2025 MEC Champion in both the long jump and the high jump, successfully defended his long-jump title with his distance of 7.37 meters on Saturday. Mustapha was shy of his program record of 7.45 meters, yet still managed to set the 16th-best mark in NCAA Division II with a provisional mark on Saturday.
Van den Tooren re-set her program record in the pentathlon with her score of 3,533, en route to earning the silver medal. Van den Tooren finished first in the pentathlon high jump, setting a program record at 1.74 meters - the best-ever mark recorded in the high jump in the MEC Indoor Championships. Van den Tooren's mark in the event is good for 16th-best in NCAA Division II and accomplished an NCAA provisional.
O'Connor repeated as runner-up in the women's 5000m on Saturday, turning in a time of 17:22.85. She is the current school record holder in the event at 17:11.96.
Additionally, Alexis Heller re-set her program record in the shot put for the fourth time this season on Saturday. Heller's new mark of 13.13 meters, is .28 meters better than her last was. With the result, Heller is named honorable mention All-MEC, capping off a historic rookie indoor season in the event.
Point Park also finished third in both DMR races on Saturday evening. On the women's side, the team of Lotte Zethof, Mya Greschner, Aubrey Smith and Zabine von Westernhagen turned in a time of 12:33.37. The men's DMR team of Pedro Lemos, Maxwell Eaton, Chase Bowen and Elijah Bechdel finished with a time of 10:13.72.
RECORD BREAKERS
In addition to Van den Tooren and Heller, Maxwell Eaton and Emma Roemer each set program records on Saturday.
Eaton qualified for the 400m final with his time of 48.88 seconds. Eaton re-set his own program record with the time, and he finished first in the event's prelims.
Roemer also re-set her program record in the 60m hurdles, finishing in 8.79 seconds. Roemer qualified for Sunday's finals with her NCAA provisional qualifying time on Saturday. Roemer's time in the 60m of 7.97 seconds was also good for second-best in program history. She finished 11th in the event.
Additionally, Luke McKenna re-set his second-best 5,000m time at 15:11.16 on Saturday. Ben Williams moved from fifth to fourth in Point Park history in the shot put with his distance of 14.18 meters.
QUALIFIERS
In addition to Eaton and Roemer, the following Pioneers qualified for the finals in their respective events on Sunday:
Men
- Maxwell Eaton - 400m, 48.88 seconds - school record.
- Akeem Mustapha - 60m, 6.87 seconds - reset his second-best time in PPU history.
- Kamar Sutherland - 60m hurdles, 8.17 seconds - .01 seconds off tying his PPU program record and set NCAA provisional mark.
- Gavin Glass - 60m hurdles, 8.46 seconds - third-best time in PPU history.
- CA Froneman - 60m hurdles, 8.49 seconds - fifth-best time in PPU history.
- Akeem Mustapha - 60m hurdles, 8.50 seconds.
- Christian Reid - 400m, 49.96 seconds.
Women
Point Park will wrap up the MEC Championships on Sunday. Trey Jones enters the final day in fourth place in the heptathlon. After Day 1, the men's team ranks fifth with 15 points - 3 points shy of a top-three finish. The women's team sits in second place with 34 points - 7 points shy of WV Wesleyan in the top spot.
