Messiah Men, Women Keep Streaks Alive At LVC Invite
Senior Jennifer Kooser paced Messiah's fourth straight women's team championship at the LVC Invite Saturday.

Annville, PA — It was business as usual for the Messiah College cross country program at Saturday’s Lebanon Valley College Invitational, as the men and women captured second- and first-place results in the team standings, respectively.

The Falcons’ women captured its fourth consecutive first-place finish while the men rattled off its third straight runner-up result, competing against as many as 14 teams and 173 runners in the season opener for both squads.

“This was a very good first outing of the year for us,” said Dale Fogelsanger, Messiah head coach. “We ran a very smart race throughout both teams. Everyone stayed poised and didn’t get flustered by the big crowds. That was good to see.”

Messiah’s top five women posted an average clip of 19:59 for its 5k race, finishing second, eighth, 10th, 11th and 12th overall. Senior Jennifer Kooser led that charge, finishing second overall in a time of 19:13.19, less than 10 seconds back from University of Mary Washington sophomore and overall medalist Hayley Sullivan (19:03.91).

“Our top five (women’s) spread was just 65 seconds, which is pretty good when you consider that team captain and NCAA qualifier Jenny Kooser was leading us,” Fogelsanger said.

Freshman Mary Higgins finished eighth overall and was second in line for Messiah, taking top rookie honors in the 144-woman race with a time of 20:06.20.

Two juniors and three freshmen then finished in a 10th-place through 13th-place pack for the Falcons, helping to Messiah’s team dominance. Junior Jacklyn Van Arsdale (10th place, 20:08.72), freshman Courtney Long (11th place, 20:10.05), junior Inna Potekhina (12th place, 20:18.56) and freshman Brooke Airey (13th place, 20:22.73) all crossed the finish line within a 12-second window, while junior Erin Rhodes (15th place, 20:41.41) and junior Sarah Clemmer (18th place, 20:50.91) weren’t far behind.

Messiah’s top five finishes resulted in just 43 team points, taking care of runner-up Gettysburg College (58 points) with room to spare.

On the men’s side, Messiah was led by senior Frank Eanes’ third-place, 26:48.24 effort — a clip that headlined seventh, 12th, 13th and 14th-place results for a total 49 team points. That result was just two marks off University of Mary Washington’s championship effort 47 points.

“We had a very strong showing at the top of our men’s lineup as well,” Fogelsanger said.

Freshman Tyler Newhook was the top rookie finisher in the men’s race, taking seventh in a time of 27:01.53. Three juniors rounded out Messiah’s scoring five: Arthur Black took 12th place in 27;18.12, Peter Schenk finished 13th in 27:21.97 and Cory Kaufman placed 14th in 27:29.88. Those results gave the Falcons an average time of 27:11 for the 8k event amongst their top five runners.

Rutgers University-Camden’s Travis Stewart won the men’s race in a time of 26:19.74.

Messiah will next compete in the Waynesburg Invitational next Saturday, an event that will provide the Falcons a preview of the NCAA Regional site and layout. Start time for the women’s race is set for 10 a.m. The men’s event is slated to start at 10:45 a.m.

Messiah Recent Team Finishes — Lebanon Valley Invitational
Year — Men's / Women's Result
2002 — 3rd / 2nd
2003 — 1st / 2nd
2004 — 5th / 4th
2005 — 7th / 1st
2006 — 2nd / 1st
2007 — 2nd / 1st
2008 — 2nd / 1st