LEBANON, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley men's cross country team put seven runners in the top 10 to win the 51st annual Dutchmen Invitational in the team's first race of the year on Saturday morning at Union Canal Tunnel Park.
 
"Honestly, unbelievable," Head Coach James O'Brien had to say about the team's performance. "As a coaching staff we've noticed something special about this group but this went even better than anticipated. However, at the end of the day nothing in early September counts at all. We need to stay hungry and healthy as we progress towards October. But this was pretty cool to witness today."
 
Rory Lieberman topped the field of 188 collegiate runners with an 8,000-meter time of 25:05.0. Matthew Santana was right behind him to finish second in a career-best 25:13.2. Sam Rothstein was the next Dutchman to finish as he crossed the line fifth in 25:59.7. Eric Shelton was right behind him with a career-best time of 26:04.5 while Joe Chukoskie was another five seconds back in 26:09.3. Lukas Walko finished eighth in a career-best 26:15.2 while Donnie Miller finished 10th in a career-best 26:27.3.
 
The Dutchmen scored 21 points while Ursinus College was second with 66 points. Moravian University finished third with 99 points while Susquehanna University was fourth with 118 points. University of Scranton rounded out the top five teams with 119 points.
 
LVC Finishers

PL	Name	Avg. Mile	Time	Score
1	Rory Lieberman	05:02.7	25:05.0	1
2	Matthew Santana	05:04.4	25:13.2	2
5	Sam Rothstein	05:13.7	25:59.7	5
6	Eric Shelton	05:14.7	26:04.5	6
7	Joe Chukoskie	05:15.7	26:09.3	7
8	Lukas Walko	05:16.9	26:15.2	8
10	Donnie Miller	05:19.3	26:27.3	10
14	Elijah McKell	05:21.2	26:36.9
16	Samuel Bower	05:22.1	26:41.4
17	Andrew Namatka	05:23.0	26:45.9
20	Dylan Lenhart	05:24.0	26:50.8
26	Liam Allen	05:27.4	27:07.6
34	Alec Di Cesare	05:32.9	27:35.2
35	Wyatt Leitzel	05:33.2	27:36.5
44	Aden Davis	05:36.6	27:53.4
47	Caden Bell	05:38.2	28:01.3
73	Cole Lehman	05:46.6	28:43.3
91	Ryan O'Byrne	05:53.9	29:19.5
98	Caleb Scarborough	05:55.5	29:27.5
99	Lucas Newell	05:55.6	29:27.8
108	Jason Nester	05:59.9	29:49.5
116	Levi Wyszynski	06:03.3	30:05.9
131	Penn Smith	06:13.0	30:54.1
135	Trevor Gipe	06:15.6	31:07.3
160	Ethan Darlington	06:41.6	33:16.8

 
Up Next
The Dutchmen will be off from competition for a few weeks before returning to action on September 28 for the Long/Short Invitational hosted by Dickinson College at Big Spring High School in Newville.

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