LEBANON, Pa. -
Kelsey Patrick's individual title led Lebanon Valley's women to first, and
Michael Harnish won the men's race to put the men in second in the 42nd Annual Dutchmen Invitational at Memorial Lake State Park.
In a preview of the 2014 Middle Atlantic Conference Championships, which will be held at UCTP in November, the Dutchmen came away with top results despite very hot and humid conditions. Messiah captured the men's team title.
"Today wasn't a day to worry about times, but I was very happy with the effort levels that I saw," said Head Coach James O'Brien '07. "We worked through the heat as best as we could, knowing that some are affected more than others."
Both Patrick and Harnish defended their 2013 meet wins, as did the women's team, who put all five scorers in the top 16 to score 51 points, edging out Misericordia's 62.
Dana Stockdale finished seventh and
Alyssa Keich (12th),
Rachel Eyler (15th), and
Lauren Decker (16th) finishing it out.
Hannah Jones had a good run to come in 24th, and freshman
Sarah Grow was 29th.
"Our ladies were fortunate to come out with the win today, but we know that Misericordia, Messiah, and DeSales are all capable teams and we know that they are gunning for us this year," O'Brien said. "The worst thing we could do would be to come off of this meet content. My senior class of Dana, Alyssa, and Rachel have worked incredibly hard over their four years here and got the job done for us today out there."
The men were second with 69, led by Harnish's 27:09 win. He stayed in contact with the front the entire time, making his move on the third and final loop to win by nearly 30 seconds.
Stephen Chappell earned a top-10 finish in ninth, followed by
Andrew Goelz (12th),
Ibsen Powers (22), and
Nick Scullin (25th) to round out LVC's scoring.
Cody Lloyd finished 31st, and
Stephen Shelly 36th.
"Our men's team had a tough time working through the heat but still did well to finish second," O'Brien said. "We were further behind Messiah than we would have liked. Stephen and Ibsen had incredible races for us. We have a lot of depth but need to close down our 1-5 gap throughout the season."
