DOYLESTOWN, Pa. - The Messiah women's cross country team earned the win today at the Aggie Invite hosted by Delaware Valley College, a meet that served as a MAC preview on the same course that will host the conference's championships later in the season. The Falcons earned the team win out of a total field of nine teams, also besting seven MAC teams on a rolling, scenic course set on uneven and often difficult terrain. The Falcons dominated the field, placing a number of athletes towards the top of the finishing order and finishing with a score of 37 points.  The Falcons were buoyed by the second straight 1-2 finish in a row, also managing to put four racers inside the top 10. The Falcons finished well clear of Stevens (second place, 93 points) and York (third place, 94 points), showing an impressive win that bodes very well for their following races and the championships to come in two months. 

The Falcons will return to action next weekend at the Dickinson Long/Short Invitational, hosted at Big Spring High School, the site of the NCAA DIII XC Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships later in the season. After a successful race at the site of the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships today, the Falcons will hope to replicate that success next week as they preview another course and look forward to late-season success come November.
 
Race Action
 
Junior Ella Swayne and Sophomore Delaney Turk reprised their efforts from the Falcons' first meet two weeks ago, marking the second time the duo has finished 1-2 at the front of a race this season in as many attempts. Swayne and Turk ran the entirety of the first half of the race together before Swayne began to ease ahead during the third mile. Swayne finished very strongly in the last kilometer to open up a significant gap on the rest of the field, finishing as the runaway victor with a time of 23:30.70, an incredible time given the nature of the course. Turk finished close behind with a time of 23:44.10 to place second, with the Falcon duo ending up being the only runners on the day to break 24 minutes over the six kilometer course.
 
The third finisher for the Falcons was freshman Kenzee Wiker, who improved on her fourth-place team finish from the Falcons' first race at Shippensburg and clocked a time of 25:19.10 in her 6k debut. Wiker opened up her race quickly with fellow freshmen Emmie Battersby, who she eased away from during the third mile. Wiker continued on strongly to the finish to place ninth overall, while Junior Kayra DeVries moved forward in the latter stages of the race with an excellent close to challenge Wiker for the Falcons' third spot. DeVries crossed the line just several steps behind her freshman teammate with a time of 25:19.90 to finish fourth amongst her teammates and take 10th overall, a significant improvement on her first race at Shippensburg two weeks ago.
 
In just her second ever cross country race, senior Clara Benner turned in a fantastic performance to finish as the fifth Falcon and final contributor to the team total. Benner began her race with a big pack consisting of herself, Ava Shirk, Aubrey Yeager, Allison Keller, and Meagan Kime before following closely behind Kayra DeVries' move during the middle miles of the race. The gap between Benner and DeVries began to grow again during the final kilometer as DeVries finished very quickly, but Benner maintained a strong pace and finished with a personal best time of 25:39.80 to place 15th overall. Freshman Emmie Battersby finished shortly thereafter, placing sixth amongst Falcons and clocking a time of 25:48.80 in her 6k debut. 
 
After starting with Benner, Ava Shirk and Aubrey Yeager trailed behind their teammate's move during the middle miles of the race and also finished with an impressive negative split race. Shirk finished as the final Falcon to score in seventh with a time of 26:07.30, while Yeager stopped the clock just behind as the eighth Falcon with a time of 26:09.20. Freshman Meagan Kime and senior Allison Keller formed a similar duo from the remainder of that starting pack, with Kime overtaking her senior teammate in the closing kilometer to earn a 26:31.30 clocking. Keller finished as the tenth Falcon in 30th place overall just behind with a time of 26:34.20. 
 
Sophomore Elana Pineda performed well in her first race of the season, beginning her race with DeVries and ending up as the next Falcon in the finishing order with a time of 26:54.30. Sophomore Jenna Sobek rounded out the Falcons' top dozen in her first ever 6k, earning a new personal best time of 27:17.30.
 
Elizabeth Anthony had a fantastic race to finish as the final Falcon under 28 minutes, crossing the line well ahead of her pack from the start of the race with a time of 27:57.10 that sits less than half a minute outside of her personal best. Sophomore Olivia Miller (29:18.00), Sophomore Caroline Shutts (29:39.40), and Junior Grace Bath (30:08.50) all turned in strong performances for the Falcons and were closely followed by the freshmen duo of Kelsey Hoffman and Katie Gardner, alongside senior Abi Ferry. The three finished all together in the overall finishing order and ended up with respective times of 30:46.60, 30:54.00, and 31:00.60, turning in solid performances given the difficulty of the course. Senior Lexi Lapp (32:46.30) and Junior Lia Widenhofer (33:11.30) rounded out the Falcons' efforts on the day, with Widenhofer in particular coming within just 10 seconds of her lifetime best.  
 
What's Up Next
 
The Falcons will return to action next weekend at the Dickinson Long/Short Invitational, hosted at Big Spring High School, the site of the NCAA DIII XC Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships later in the season. After a successful race at the site of the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships today, the Falcons will hope to replicate that success next week as they preview another course and look forward to late-season success come November.