DALLAS, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley men's cross country team had an impressive start to the season as they won the team title at the Misercordia Invitational on Friday evening.
 
"Our men had an exciting kickoff for the season taking the win over strong Marywood and Misericordia teams," head coach James O'Brien stated. First-year runner Matt Santana led the charge for the Dutchmen as he topped the field of 120 with a 4,000-meter time of 12:46.7. "Matt taking the overall win in his first collegiate race is just incredible. We also had a strong pack behind him that was able to stay together and get the job done. The warm weather and soggy conditions made it feel a little harder of an effort we were expecting for only a 4K." The meet was held at Letterkenny Field in Dallas, the site of this year's Middle Atlantic Conference Championships
 
The Dutchmen scored 57 points to finish ahead of host Misericordia with 71 points and Marywood with 73 points. Marywood was ranked third in the preseason regional rankings. Susquehanna University finished fourth with 83 points while University of Scranton rounded out the top five with 139 points.
 
Santana average 5:08.4 per mile and won at the line defeating Marywood sophomore Brandon Fleschut by 0.4 seconds. Sam Rothstein led a pack of four LVC runners who finished between 11th and 17th with a time of 13:10.0. Donnie Miller was 13th with a time of 13:11.0 while Joe Chukoskie was 15th in 13:12.7. Vinny Ferrizzi was the fifth Dutchman finisher with a time of 13:15.6. LVC had 13 runners break 14 minutes and placed 12 in the top 30 overall.
 
LVC Finishers

PL	NAME	Avg. Mile	TIME	SCORE
1	Matthew Santana	05:08.4	12:46.7	1
11	Sam Rothstein	05:17.8	13:10.0	11
13	Donnie Miller	05:18.2	13:11.0	13
15	Joe Chukoskie	05:18.9	13:12.7	15
17	Vinny Ferrizzi	05:20.1	13:15.6	17
20	Elijah McKell	05:24.1	13:25.7	20
21	Samuel Bower	05:24.4	13:26.5	21
25	Aden Davis	05:26.3	13:31.0
26	Alec Di Cesare	05:26.8	13:32.3
28	Ryan O'Byrne	05:27.9	13:35.0
30	Joseph Pleban	05:31.3	13:43.5
37	Cole Lehman	05:36.4	13:56.1
38	Liam Allen	05:37.2	13:58.3
41	Eric Shelton	05:40.4	14:06.2
43	Dylan Lenhart	05:40.6	14:06.7
44	Caleb Scarborough	05:40.9	14:07.4
51	Mac Eschinger	05:44.8	14:17.2
95	Trevor Gipe	06:29.7	16:08.7
99	Penn Smith	06:39.6	16:33.2
114	Jonathan Cabello	08:48.7	21:54.3

 
Up Next
LVC will host the 50th annual Dutchmen Invitational next Saturday at Union Canal Tunnel Park in Lebanon.
 
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