In their final tuneups for the Centennial Conference Championships, the Muhlenberg cross country teams had a great day at the DeSales Invitational, with the men winning the meet and the women finishing third out of 24 teams.

The win for the men was the first in program history in a large (20 or more teams) invitational. The Mules have been going to the Allentown/DeSales Invitational since 1989 and had never finished higher than sixth.

Muhlenberg had five runners place in the top 15, led by senior Lex Mercado, who won the race. He finished more than 14 seconds ahead of the second-place runner.

Seniors Stephen Rothwell (fourth) and Tim Seeley (11th) and sophomores Timothy Van Syckle (14th) and David Chorney (15th) rounded out the Mules’ top five. Muhlenberg was 16 points ahead of Salisbury and defeated Centennial Conference for Swarthmore by a sizable margin for the second meet in a row.

The women also posted their best finish at DeSales after two straight fifth-place showings. Junior Sara Gearin crossed the line 11th to lead the Mules.

Click here for box score.
Click here for complete results.

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Sophomore Laura Lipari had the best race of her career, finishing 15th out of 214 runners.