NEWVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley men's cross country team had a strong performance with five runners earning All-Region honors on Saturday in a third-place team finish at the Mid-Atlantic Region Championship at Big Spring High School in Newville.
 
The Dutchmen recorded the program's best-ever finish at a regional meet, placing five runners in the top 35. LVC put themselves in a great spot to be an at-large qualifier for the National Championships next weekend as they finished third as a team behind regional powers Johns Hopkins University and Carnegie Mellon University. Rory Lieberman, Joe Chukoskie, Andrew Namatka, Lukas Walko, and Eric Shelton all earned All-Region honors for placing in the top 35.
 
"This wasn't a perfect day, but our depth was on full display with five All-Region finishers, and a narrow miss of a sixth," Head Coach James O'Brien stated about the performance today. "We are cautiously optimistic that we did enough to punch our very first ticket to nationals as a team and will find out tomorrow. I'm incredibly proud of this group and what they have done for our program. I would love another opportunity for them to compete next weekend."
 
Lieberman led the Dutchmen using a strong finish to place 16th overall out of 218 runners with a time of 25:44.3 on the 8,000-meter course. Lieberman could be in a position to qualify as an individual for the NCAA Championships if the Dutchmen aren't selected as a team and Carnegie Mellon gets an at-large selection. Chukoskie earned All-Region honors for the second consecutive season with a time of 25:50.1 to place 21st. Andrew Namatka was right behind him in 23rd place with a time of 25:59.0.
 
Walko ran 26:07.5 to finish 28th while Shelton rounded out the top five finishers with a time of 26:13.2 to place 33rd. Wyatt Leitzel just missed All-Region honors as he finished 36th with a time of 26:19.7. Dylan Lenhart rounded out the Dutchmen runners with a time of 27:11.2 to finish 66th.
 
JHU won the team title with 23 points. The Blue Jays placed seven in the top 10 behind Individual Champion Kenny Wanlass. The junior covered the course in 25:16.8 to win by four seconds. Carnegie Mellon was second with 64 points. LVC was third with 121 points. Dickinson College finished fourth on its home course with 154 points. Messiah College rounded out the top five teams with 172 points.
 
The Dutchmen will find out tomorrow afternoon if they are qualifiers for next Saturday's National Championship in Spartanburg, S.C.

Stay Connected
Be sure to follow @lvcathletics on Instagram, X, and Facebook for the most in-depth coverage of LVC Athletics.