DALLAS, Pa. – Matthew Santana finished fourth out of 132 runners at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships on Saturday to lead the Lebanon Valley men's cross country team and earn Rookie of the Year honors.
 
Santana was one of three All-Conference finishers for the Dutchmen on a warm day and muddy course. "This course was really muddy/soft and the warm weather made it feel like a real battle out there today, said head coach James O'Brien about the course at Letterkenny Fields. "The way the course ran made this a different meet than anything we've experienced so far this year.  It was a slow day all around."
 
LVC finished fifth in the team standings with 112 points losing out on a tiebreaker to York College of Pennsylvania for fourth. DeSales University placed three in the top six to win the team title with 37 points. Host Misericordia University was second with 94 points and were led by Stephen Rowley who won the Individual Championship in 26:35.7. Messiah University was third with 109 points followed by the Spartans and Dutchmen. "If I'm being honest, in the initial aftermath of this race I was a little disappointed," stated O'Brien. "We came out on the wrong side of a couple of things that were important to us, being only three points shy of third and then losing a tiebreaker for fourth. Sometimes sports can be brutal in that way. Matt Santana was simply fantastic. This young man is the real deal. Sam was also fantastic moving up really well to almost work his way into our top 10. The rest of our group struggled a bit relative to where we needed them to be with regards to team scoring. However, we are really young and I believe this will be the springboard our guys need to truly excel in the future. We need a little more time to cook with this group."
 
Sam Rothstein finished 11th to earn Second Team honors with a time of 27:41.8. Joe Chukoskie was the third All-Conference performer with a time of 28:25.0 to finish 29th. Donnie Miller wasn't too far behind him in 33rd with a time of 28:36.8. Elijah McKell rounded out the top five in 29:00.4 to finish 40th. Alec Di Cesare ran 29:04.8 to finish 44th and Eric Shelton was 50th with a time of 29:26.4.
 
LVC Finishers

PL	NAME	Avg. Mile	TIME	SCORE
4	Matthew Santana	05:25.8	26:59.7	4
11	Sam Rothstein	05:34.3	27:41.8	10
29	Joe Chukoskie	05:43.0	28:25.0	28
33	Donnie Miller	05:45.3	28:36.8	32
40	Elijah McKell	05:50.1	29:00.4	38
44	Alec Di Cesare	05:51.0	29:04.8	42
50	Eric Shelton	05:55.3	29:26.4	48
60	Samuel Bower	06:00.9	29:54.0
66	Aden Davis	06:03.5	30:07.1
76	Ryan O'Byrne	06:09.8	30:38.6
81	Lukas Walko	06:11.0	30:44.6
109	Vinny Ferrizzi	06:36.2	32:49.6

 
Up Next
LVC will have two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships being held at Lock Haven on Saturday November 11.
 
2023 MAC MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY AWARDS
Team Champion: DeSales
Runner of the Year / Individual Champion: Stephen Rowley, Misericordia 
Rookie of the Year: Matthew Santana, Lebanon Valley 
Coach of the Year: Al Weiner, DeSales

All-MAC First Team (1st-10th)
1. Stephen Rowley, Misericordia
2. Shane Artis, DeSales
3. Matthew Santacoloma. DeSales
4. Matthew Santana, Lebanon Valley
5. Hayden Schindler, Stevenson 
6. Nick Manidis, DeSales
7. Louka Fetter, Messiah
8. Jake Aylmer, Stevens
9. Thomas Flear, Widener
10. Thomas Bricker, Misericordia

All-MAC Second Team (11th-20th)
11. Sam Rothstein, Lebanon Valley 
12. Joey Wilson, DeSales
13. John Kettula, York
14. Liam Concannon, Stevens
15. Tyler Hunt, York
16. Owen Foytack, King's
17. Davis Trump, DeSales
18. Brian Bruno, DeSales
19. Josh Deremer, DeSales
20. Kyle Costello, Messiah

All-MAC Third Team (21st-30th)
21. Chris Sappe, Hood
22. Noah Calisti, Messiah 
23. Tim Should, Widener
24. Ronnie Melao, Stevens
25. Ryan Shulman, Misericordia
26. Tavian McKenna, Misericordia
27. Josh Bauman, Messiah
28. Brandon Henriksen, York
29. Joe Chukoskie, Lebanon Valley
30. Jack Roseboom

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