LEBANON, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley College men's cross country team started the season strong by winning the program's second Dutchmen Invitational title in the past three years on Saturday morning at Union Canal Tunnel Park in Lebanon.
 
"We had our top group run a controlled effort today, as we are in a heavy training cycle," stated Head Coach James O'Brien '07, M'16.  "Awesome to have Donnie Miller back in the mix, as a strong fifth is going to be key for us, and he stepped up well for us today.  Our main objective was to stay healthy and spin the wheels a little bit as we begin the season. We got a lot of rain this past week; as late as Thursday, three parts of our course were completely underwater.  Our course held up well but was still on the slower side by the time the collegiate races were run due to the large high school fields earlier in the morning. Working through the muddy spots was a key part of everyone's experience today."
 
LVC placed their top five scorers in the top 10 as they grouped up to finish fifth through ninth at 26:44 on the 8,000-meter course. Wyatt Leitzel crossed the line first, followed by Lukas Walko and Donnie Miller. Andrew Namatka and Rory Lieberman were right on their heels in the field of 155 finishers. Liam Allen was the sixth Dutchman to finish in 12th place with a time of 27:02. Dylan Miller was right behind him in a career-best 27:16, while Dylan Lenhart crossed the line at 27:40 in 14th place.
 
Ben Graybeal ran a career-best time of 28:28 while Logan Koehn ran a time of 28:34.5, Josh Miller ran a time of 28:55.1, Cooper Allred ran 29:31.2, and Michael Royles ran 32:22 in their first collegiate races.

The Dutchmen scored 40 points to top the field of 15 scoring teams. Susquehanna University was second with 72 points, while Eastern University finished third with 118 points. Penn State Berks was fourth at 174 points, and St. Mary's of Maryland rounded out the top five with 183 points.

LVC Finishers

PL	NAME	Avg. Mile	TIME	SCORE
5	Wyatt Leitzel	05:22.7	26:44.2	6
6	Lukas Walko	05:22.7	26:44.2	7
7	Donnie Miller	05:22.7	26:44.3	8
8	Andrew Namatka	05:22.7	26:44.3	9
9	Rory Lieberman	05:22.7	26:44.4	10
12	Liam Allen	05:26.3	27:02.4	12
13	Dylan Miller	05:29.2	27:16.6	14
14	Dylan Lenhart	05:33.9	27:40.2
25	Ben Graybeal	05:43.6	28:28.0
27	Logan Koehn	05:44.9	28:34.5
34	Josh Miller	05:49.0	28:55.1
45	Caden Bell	05:54.0	29:19.7
50	Cooper Allred	05:56.3	29:31.2
67	Ethan Darlington	06:11.6	30:47.3
74	Owen Kreider	06:14.5	31:01.6
85	Trevor Gipe	06:22.2	31:40.3
100	Michael Royles	06:30.7	32:22.3
108	Aidan Jennings	06:38.9	33:02.9

 
Up Next
The Dutchmen will be off from competition until Saturday, September 26, when they head to Lock Haven to preview this year's NCAA Regional course at the Lock Haven Invitational.

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