NEWVILLE, Pa. - The Messiah Women's Cross Country team performed exceptionally well today at the Dickinson Long/Short Invitational, hosted at Big Spring High School at the site of the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships later in the year. The Falcons turned in a number of quick times despite the challenging, hilly course, fielding a strong assortment of runners and finishing highly in both races. As the name implies, the meet offered two different racing distances, with the normal 6K distance being the "long" race and the quicker 4K race being the "short" race. The Falcons finished in second place in the shorter 4K race with 24 points in a race where just the top three runners scored, finishing behind only a Washington & Lee team that is ranked 10th nationally and finished with just 12 points on the day. The Falcons also finished in sixth place as a team in the longer 6K race with 55 points, a product of the team being split up almost evenly between both races. Behind a second place team finish in the 4K race and a sixth place finish in the 6K race, the Falcons took a surprise overall meet win after the scores from both racers were added together. The Falcons registered a total of 79 points, just surpassing Misericordia (second place, 84 points) and Dickinson (third place, 98 points). This marks the Falcons' third team win in a row in as many races this season, marking an incredible start to the season that bodes very well for the postseason bouts to come.

The Falcons will return to action after a short turnaround by competing at the Paul Short Invitational hosted by Lehigh University on Friday, October 3. Only the top 10 Falcons on each team will toe the line at the very competitive invitational, which will also see many of the best Division-I schools in the nation in attendance across a number of various races. The entire team will return to action together in three weeks time at Rowan University on October 18th. 

The longer 6K race, which was endured by 13 of the 22 Falcons competing on the day, took place first. Madison Kimmel ran a fantastic race to finish as the top Falcon in the longer race, taking seventh place overall with a time of 23:37.3. Kimmel's time stands as an incredible improvement on her 24:17.0 clocking over the same course two years ago. The sophomore ran an incredibly consistent race relative to her competition, passing through the first mile in a quick 6:18 before moving up four places by the end. Kayra DeVries was the second Falcon to finish on the day with a personal record time of 24:30.2, which stands as a personal record by 21 seconds and also surpasses her performance from the same course two years ago by an incredible two minutes and five seconds. DeVries went out quickly, splitting a time six seconds adrift of Kimmel at the mile before carrying on strongly over the difficult, hilly part of the course and closing with a quick final kilometer over the flat finishing portion of the race. 

Aubrey Yeager was the third Falcon to finish in the 6K race, with the junior running an incredible time of 25:05.6 to surpass her time from the previous week by over a minute. Yeager began her race with Ava Shirk and ran remarkably even splits considering the hills, including an especially strong mile over the hilliest section of the race in the third mile. Samantha Mynio finished as the fourth Falcon, showcasing her strength over hilly courses by registering her second fastest time ever with a 25:26.8 clocking. Mynio began her race with a large pack of Falcons consisting of Allison Keller, Elana Pineda, and Meagan Kime before breaking away from her teammates as the hills began in the second mile. Mynio amassed a considerable gap before just holding off an incredible close from Allison Keller, who finished right behind with a time of 25:27.5, a time that sits just outside of the senior's personal best time of 25:13.9.

Elana Pineda was the next Falcon from that group across the line with a time of 25:48.8, also showcasing an incredible improvement from the previous week's race by running over a minute faster. Ava Shirk, who began her race with Aubrey Yeager, found herself accompanied by the next group of Falcons in the middle of the second mile and trailed just behind Meagan Kime for much of the third mile. Shirk finished just ahead of her teammate after a quick close to place as the seventh Falcon in a time of 26:06.9, while Kime finished just two places behind with a 26:17.8 clocking. 

The duo of Jenna Sobek and Elizabeth Anthony both ran exceptional races, spending nearly the entirety of the race together. Sobek forged a slight lead over her teammate over the middle two miles, holding the same gap through the final 0.73 mile segment to finish 5 seconds ahead with a time of 27:16.4. Sobek notched a new personal best by 0.9 seconds in her second-ever 6K. Incredibly, Anthony also finished with a new personal best as a junior, beating her previous best of 27:30.3 by a sizable margin with a finishing time of 27:21.3. 

Grace Bath ran a strong race for the Falcons to turn in a time of 29:27.1, a significant improvement on her time of 30:08.5 from the previous week. Lexi Lapp began her race with Bath by clocking a 7:34 opening mile before finishing with a time of 31:28.4, also an improvement over last week's race by over a minute. Lia Widenhofer rounded out the Falcons' efforts in the 6K, running a great race to end up within 0.3 seconds of her personal best from the previous season.

In the 4K, the Falcons benefitted from Ella Swayne's second place performance in the event behind an incredible time of 14:35.4, a time that stands nearly a minute faster than her season-opening 4K time of 15:34.7 at Shippensburg. Swayne ran an excellent race to stay near the front pack for the entire race, coming through the mile in third place with a time of 5:52 before ultimately finishing with a 4K time that averages out to 5:52 per mile pace for the entire event. According to the splits on the course, Swayne finished her race with a final kilometer of 3:16, an unbelievable finishing close that allowed her to cement her place in second. 

Delaney Turk also ran a fantastic race for the Falcons to finish in seventh place overall with a time of 14:50.3, also an incredible improvement on her opening 4K time from Shippensburg. Turk ran a patient race by letting Swayne go in the race's early stages before excelling over the hills and splitting a time under four minutes during every kilometer, including a 3:22 closing split that replicated that of her teammate.

Kenzee Wiker was the third Falcon to finish in the short race, earning a time of 15:43.5 that stands over half a minute faster than her season-opening race. Wiker began her race slightly ahead of teammates Clara Benner and Emmie Battersby and began to grow the gap during the second kilometer before it shrunk once more during the third. Wiker had the quickest close of the three with a 3:32 final kilometer according to the course, with Benner (15:55.5) and Battersby (15:56.9) finishing very closely together to make up the Falcons' top five. 

Olivia Miller ran a strong race in isolation from any teammates to finish with a time of 17:30.7 behind a great final kilometer of 4:03 that served as a strong recovery after the hillier section of the course. Caroline Shutts and Kelsey Hoffman contributed strongly to the Falcons' efforts with a great duo effort, finishing with respective times of 18:22.3 and 18:30.8 after running the first two miles together. Katie Gardner rounded out the Falcons' efforts with a time of 19:16.0, also improving by nearly a minute on her season-opening time from Shippensburg.

Up Next
The Falcons will return to action after a short turnaround by competing at the Paul Short Invitational hosted by Lehigh University on Friday, October 3. Only the top 10 Falcons on each team will toe the line at the very competitive invitational, which will also see many of the best Division-I schools in the nation in attendance across a number of various races. The entire team will return to action together in three weeks time at Rowan University on October 18th.