LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Lebanon Valley College cross country senior Rory Lieberman distanced himself from the field to win the Lock Haven Invitational on Saturday morning at the West Branch Cross Country Course on the campus of Lock Haven University.

The Dutchmen previewed this year's regional course in a meet that featured a mixture of Division II and Division III teams. The men's team finished second out of 22 scoring teams and were the top Division III finisher in the field. The women's team was 17th in a field of 22 scoring teams.

"While we were slightly slower this year over our five-runner average, the course conditions were significantly impacted by rain this week compared to the dry course we ran last year." Head Coach James O'Brien stated about the men's team. "This performance is at least on par with what we did last year.  I saw some really good things in both of our races that have me optimistic that we will be ready to perform next week at Paul Short."
 
Lieberman finished the 8,000-meter course in 24:43.1, winning by seven seconds over Northwood senior Matt Grindrod in 24:50.0.  Andrew Namatka ran a career-best time of 25:09.9 to finish ninth overall in the field of 184. His time is eighth all-time in program history. Wyatt Leitzel also had a career-best time of 25:25.6 to finish 19th. His time is 15th in the program record books.
 
Lukas Walko was the next LVC runner to finish with a time of 25:45.7 in 27th place. Dylan Lenhart was the fifth scorer with a career-best time of 26:07.0 in 39th. Liam Allen ran a career-best 26:20.5 to finish 50th and Dylan Miller ran a career-best 26:56.7 to round out the top seven and finish 92nd. Josh Miller ran a season-best time of 27:18.2 in his second collegiate race, Caden Bell ran a season-best time of 27:36.6, and Ben Graybeal ran a career-best time of 28:06.2.
 
The Dutchmen scored 85 points as a team to finish second overall, finishing behind Division II Northwood, who had three of the top five finishers and scored 32 points. Division II Adelphi was third with 127 points, Division II Slippery Rock was fourth with 149 points, and MAC rival Messiah University finished fifth with 152 points.
 
The women's team was led by Jocelyn Saultz, who crossed the line in 23:47.5 to finish 64th in her first collegiate 6,000-meter race. Charlee Kurtz was not far behind her in 69th with a time of 23:51.3. Nina Milosevic ran a career-best time of 24:21.9 to finish 98th, Christine Wagner ran a career-best 24:48.4 to finish 117th, and Grace Buerke rounded out the top five scorers with a career-best time of 27:29.5 to finish 167th.
 
"We've been going through it a little bit with injury and illness on our women's team, so I'm super proud of what we put out on the course today," O'Brien had to say about the women's race. "Four of five ran lifetime PRs. Grace did an awesome job stepping into a scoring role for us. Our main aim this year is to be patient and let the season come to us, and I think we are on the correct path to a really competitive October within the MAC."
 
Up Next
The Dutchmen will be back on the course next Friday, October 1, as they head to Lehigh University for the annual Paul Short Run.
 
LVC Finishers
Men's Crimson Race

PL	NAME	Avg. Mile	TIME
1	Rory Lieberman	04:58.3	24:43.1
9	Andrew Namatka	05:03.7	25:09.9
19	Wyatt Leitzel	05:06.9	25:25.6
27	Lukas Walko	05:10.9	25:45.7
39	Dylan Lenhart	05:15.2	26:07.0
50	Liam Allen	05:17.9	26:20.5
92	Dylan Miller	05:25.2	26:56.7
113	Josh Miller	05:29.5	27:18.2
128	Caden Bell	05:33.2	27:36.6
143	Ben Graybeal	05:39.2	28:06.2

 
Women's Crimson Race

PL	NAME	Avg. Mile	TIME
64	Jocelyn Saultz	06:22.9	23:47.5
69	Charlee Kurtz	06:23.9	23:51.3
98	Nina Milosevic	06:32.1	24:21.9
117	Christine Wagner	06:39.2	24:48.4
167	Grace Buerke	07:22.4	27:29.5

 
Men's White Race

PL	NAME	Avg. Mile	TIME
28	Logan Koehn	05:33.1	27:36.1
57	Cooper Allred	05:40.5	28:12.9
125	Ethan Darlington	05:59.3	29:46.4
129	Trevor Gipe	06:01.5	29:57.2
157	Owen Kreider	06:12.0	30:49.4
165	Michael Royles	06:17.2	31:15.1

 
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