It was a record-setting weekend for Point Park at the 2026 Mountain East Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships, as both the men’s and women’s teams placed second while combining for 14 top-three finishes.
Akeem Mustapha and Dunya Van den Tooren led the way for the Pioneers, both earning MEC Championship MVP honors as well as being named MEC Men’s and Women’s Field Athletes of the Year.
Mustapha defended his MEC long jump title with a mark of 7.37 meters while also placing second in the high jump and third in the 60 meters.
Van den Tooren placed second in the pentathlon while resetting program records in both the pentathlon (3,533 points) and high jump (1.74 meters), before winning the MEC title in the high jump and placing second in the triple jump on Sunday.
On the track, junior Mya Greschner captured the MEC Championship in the women’s 400-meter dash with a time of 58.47 seconds in her return from injury.
“Winning the MEC title in the 400 meant a lot to me, especially coming back from an injury,” Greschner said. “Honestly, just making it through the weekend healthy was a goal of mine, so to be able to do that and come away with a conference title felt really reassuring.”
Her performance came just a day after running in the preliminary round, finishing .61 seconds shy of her second-best time in program history.
“Being that close to my second-best time in program history gives me a lot of confidence in where my form is right now,” Greschner said. “Moving forward, I really want to improve the beginning of my race, specifically the first 200 meters.”
Sophomore Maxwell Eaton reset his own program record in the men’s 400 meter with a time of 48.35 seconds, less than 24 hours after first breaking the mark in prelims.
“The one adjustment I made was focusing on running a strong first 200 meters,” Eaton said. “Earlier in the season, I relied on my kick too much, so I made an emphasis on getting out strong and it improved my time by over half a second.”
Despite competing in four races the previous day, Eaton said the quick turnaround helped build confidence heading into the outdoor season.
“Dropping over half a second overnight shows that I am built to compete at a high level,” he said. “I’m going into the outdoor season with much excitement, and you can expect even more school records to be broken.”
Freshman Andrew Hartung also set a new program record in the heptathlon with 4,037 points and cleared 3.97 meters in the pole vault, the third-best mark in program history.
“I got a new lifetime best in the 60 hurdles, and it really gave me a lot of confidence to finish out the events of day two,” Hartung said. “The energy that the team brought was so helpful during the meet.”
Greschner also emphasized how the team atmosphere played a role in the Pioneers’ success throughout the weekend.
“Our team’s energy was high all weekend,” she said. “We were constantly supporting and feeding off each other’s performances, which made the experience even more meaningful. It wasn’t just about individual results; it was about showing up for each other.”
With both teams finishing second in their second year in the MEC, the result provided motivation heading into the outdoor season.
“We’re proud of the progress, but the goal is always a championship title,” Greschner said. “This result shows how close we are, and it definitely made us hungrier heading into outdoor season.”
