DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley men's cross country team had another banner day at the 2025 Middle Atlantic Conference Cross Country Championships as the Dutchmen put four in the top 10 to claim the program's second consecutive conference title on Saturday on the campus of Delaware Valley University in Doylestown.
 
The Dutchmen scored 36 points as a team to outpace second-place Messiah by 15. The Falcons were second with 51 points, while Misericordia University finished third with 76 points. Stevens Institute of Technology was fourth with 140 points, and DeSales University rounded out the top five with 144 points. LVC earned an outstanding nine All-MAC honors at the meet, with four on the first team, two on the second, and three on the third team. James O'Brien '07, M'16 was named the MAC Coach of the Year, while Lieberman earned Runner of the Year Honors.
 
"I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that we came in with the mindset to win today, and anything less would not have met our goal," O'Brien had to say about the performance by the team. "However, Messiah is a stout team, perhaps of a national-qualifying level, and we had to run really hard to keep them at bay. Very exciting to win our second consecutive title. These guys handled the pressure really well. Nine All-MAC is a program record, a special shoutout to our two "newbies" to our all-conference squad in Wyatt Leitzel, who was not in LVC's top 12 last year and finished 14th overall today, and Sam Bower, who mowed down 13 guys in the last mile to earn his first All-MAC award. This group needs to stay healthy as we approach the next two weeks before NCAA Regionals, so we can hopefully punch our ticket as a team to the national championships later this month."
 
Rory Lieberman won his second consecutive Individual Championship as the junior topped the field of 143 runners with a time of 25:17.0 on the 8,000-meter course. Lieberman won by eight seconds over Messiah University senior Louka Fetter. Joe Chukoskie finished fourth with a time of 25:34.3. Eric Shelton earned another top 10 finish in ninth place at 26:06.4, while Lukas Walko was right behind him in 10th at 10:26.5. Andrew Namatka rounded out LVC's top five with a time of 26:21.4 to finish 12th.
 
Wyatt Leitzel finished 14th with a time of 26:25.5, while Dylan Lenhart was 21st in 26:55.5. Sam Rothstein crossed the line in 24th place with a time of 27:03.3, and Samuel Bower finished 29th in 27:10.8 to give the Dutchmen nine All-MAC finishers for finishing in the top 30. Elijah McKell finished 38th in 27:27.7, Liam Allen was 45th in 27:36.4, and Chad Keller ran 27:57.0 to finish 60th.
 
2025 MAC MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY AWARDS
Team Champion: Lebanon Valley 
Runner of the Year / Individual Champion: Rory Lieberman, Lebanon Valley
Rookie of the Year: Kaleb Kabakjian, Messiah
Coach of the Year: James O'Brien, Lebanon Valley

All-MAC First Team (1st-10th)
1. Rory Lieberman, Lebanon Valley
2. Louka Fetter, Messiah
3. Trey Rhinehart, Misericordia
4. Joe Chukoskie, Lebanon Valley
5. Joey Wilson, DeSales
6. Ryan Weber, Misericordia
7. Kaleb Kabakjian, Messiah
8. Ryle Mellinger, Eastern
9. Eric Shelton, Lebanon Valley
10. Lukas Walko, Lebanon Valley

All-MAC Second Team (11th-20th)
11. Kyle Costello, Messiah
12. Andrew Namatka, Lebanon Valley
13. Ryan Shulman, Misericordia
14. Wyatt Leitzel, Lebanon Valley
15. Sean Baxter, Messiah
16. John Condon, Messiah
17. Samuel Hennett, Messiah
18. Thomas Bricker, Misericordia
19. Mick Barbi, Stevens
20. Josiah Carnwath, Messiah

All-MAC Third Team (21st-30th)
21. Dylan Lenhart, Lebanon Valley
22. Spencer Hahn, Alvernia
23. Bryce Phillips, DeSales
24. Sam Rothstein, Lebanon Valley
25. Zachary Rementer, Widener
26. Caleb Stephen, Stevens
27. Zeke Colyer, Messiah
28. Alex Seskar, Hood
29. Samuel Bower, Lebanon Valley
30. Ben Williamson, Arcadia
 
Up Next
The Dutchmen will be off for two weeks before competing at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Championship on Saturday, Nov. 15. This year's Regional is being held at Big Spring High School in Newville with Dickinson College as the host school. The men's race is scheduled for 11 a.m. as the Dutchmen look to qualify for the National Championships.
 
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