EMMITSBURG, MD – Sophomore Evan Wattie's quest to shed major time off his performance in the 3,000-meter steeplechase event was on full display on Saturday during the first day of the 2026 MAAC Track and Field Championships at Mount St. Mary's.

After racing in last year's event in 9:45.48 for a ninth-place finish at Rider, it pushed Wattie to improve.  At this year's Jaylin Rainford Invitational hosted by Bryant two months ago, Wattie showed his marked improvement—shedding seven plus seconds off his time, clocking in at 9:38.99 for a third-place finish.

Wattie had another podium finish in mind on Saturday, but this time the Ballston Spa, NY native shaved off an additional 17 plus seconds off his last time out with a time of 9:21.03 and closed with a bronze medal performance at Morgan Track.

"His water barriers were phenomenal," said third-year Siena head track coach Elizabeth DeBole.

"And he just ate people up. It was a massive personal best and it earned us our first points of the day."

It was a breakout performance for the former First Team All-Star Suburban Council choice and Ballston Spa's Most Valuable Runner in both 2023 and 2022.

Not to be outdone, graduate student Jackson Cayward churned out a bronze medal fastest 10K time with a time 31:25.74 in the 10,000-meter race.

Day 1 for Siena began with the men's 1,500-meter trials. Qualifiers from the Saints included freshman Austin Ferrin (3:59.53), senior Tyler Greene (4:00.47) and fifth-year Luke Tkaczyk (4:00.82). Behn Thomas had a personal-best time of 4:09.73 in the event.

Although Siena had no qualifiers in the women's 1,500-meter, sophomore Summer Reinoehl had the top time among Saints with a 4:52.59 while fellow sophomore Maris Potter had a personal-best time of 4:56.10. 
The women's 400-meter preliminaries featured a personal-best from junior Sara Fitzgerald (1:00.83). 

Mattingly O'Rourke had the top qualifying time in the women's 800-meter at 2:15.09. 

Day two on Sunday starts at 10 a.m. for field events and track events will begin at 12 p.m. with the last event set to go off at 3:50 p.m. in the men's 4x400-meter race. 

Fans may watch on ESPN+ and follow live results here.

Heat sheets can be viewed for Day 2 here.

Fans who plan on attending the meet may purchase tickets through Hometown Tickets for day two on this link.

Follow the Saints all weekend long by clicking on the corresponding video and live stats links at the top of the page. Continuous in-meet updates will be provided via the team's official twitter page @SienaXCTrack. Join the conversation by using the hashtags #MarchOn, #SienaSaints, and #MAACTrack.

Six Saints will take part in the men's 5,000-meter including Max Decker, Brody Santagata, Michael Ryan, Collin Clinton, Evan Wattie, and Jake Passalugo while four women will take part in the women's 5,000. Faith Skowvron, Olivia Armenia, Marissa Navarra and Olivia Schaffer will be among the competitors.

Siena will take part in both 4x800 and 4x400 relay races as well. Avery Kozerski, Julianna Tourangeau, Cameron Sisk and O'Rourke are set to go in the women's 4x800-meter. Their seed time was 9:55.65.  The men's 4x800-meter will feature Greene, Ferrin, L. Tkaczyk and Jackson Cayward. Their seed time was 8:11.59.  The women's 4x4 team will consist of Fitzgerald, Delaney Spalthoff, Kozerski and Tourangeau. They clocked a time of 4:08.84.  The men's 4x4 team comprises of Ralston Frattarola, PJ Dauer, Behn Thomas and Marcus Homa with a seed time of 3:34.04.