ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Saturday, November 2, 2002

Etown Men Win Fourth Consecutive MAC Championship, Dustin Scott MAC Men's Champion, Women Place 4th for Best Conference Finish Since 1995

LANCASTER, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College hosted the 2002 Middle Atlantic Conference Cross Country Championships at Lancaster County Central Park Saturday. Elizabethtown's men's team won its fourth consecutive MAC title, and Moravian's women's team narrowly won its tenth consecutive conference crown, edging out Messiah by just four points. Elizabethtown's women's team finished fourth out of 13 teams.

In the men's race, Etown won with just 21 points, a program record low score for the MAC Championships. Widener placed second with 70 points, and Messiah came in third with 117 points. By winning its fourth conference title in a row, Etown's men's cross country team became only the school's second program to accomplish that feat. The only other team to do it at Etown was the men's soccer team, which won six conference titles in a row from 1962-67.

Etown senior Dustin Scott (Honey Brook, PA/Twin Valley) won the men's race with a time of 26:23 over the 8k course with 121 runners competing. It was the first time in his career that he captured the MAC individual title. Etown also took second and third place, with sophomores Matt Rockwell (Plymouth, NH/Plymouth) and Steve Sanko (Hazleton, PA/Bishop Hafey) finishing in 26:32 and 26:40, respectively. Etown's next finisher was 2001 MAC individual champion Dave Berdan (Dingmans Ferry, PA/Delaware Valley), who placed sixth this year in 27:00.

Also receiving first-team all-MAC honors for Etown by placing in the top ten were freshman Greg Wetzel (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks East), who finished ninth in 27:21, and junior Sean Mulcahy (Towanda, PA/Towanda), who placed tenth in 27:26.

Earning second team all-MAC honors by placing in the top 20 for the Blue Jays were senior Mike Zwatty (Lewisberry, PA/Red Land), who finished 12th in 27:28, and sophomore Nate Moore (Elverson, PA/Twin Valley), who placed 20th in 28:03. Also, Etown junior Josh Lyman (Parkside, PA/Sun Valley) missed making all-conference two years in a row by three seconds, as he wound up in 23rd place in 28:06.

Moravian won the women's race with 43 points, and Messiah was close behind with 47 points. DeSales came in third with 89 points, and the Blue Jays took fourth with 124 points. Etown moved up two places from last year's finish of sixth, and the Blue Jays' showing in 2002 was their best at the MAC Championships since 1995, when the team placed third. Gina Lucrezi of DeSales won the women's individual championship with a time of 22:47.

Freshman Bri Lambert (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg) was Etown's top finisher, covering the 6k course in 24:07 to finish in 13th place out of 116 runners. By placing in the top 20, she earned second team All-MAC honors, becoming Etown's first all-conference runner since 1999.

Elizabethtown's second finisher was sophomore Melissa St. Clair (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg), who finished in 24th place with a time of 24:45. Also placing in the top 30 for Etown were freshman Lindsey Gruenewald (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) in 26th place in 24:52, and sophomore Amanda Santore (Boothwyn, PA/Garnet Valley), who finished in 30th place with a time of 25:00.

Elizabethtown will return to action Saturday, November 16 at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships, which will be hosted this year by Salisbury University. There, the men's team will try to win the Mideast Regional championship for the first time and qualify as a team for the NCAA Division III Championships November 23 for the third time in the past four years. The Etown women's team will look to post its best-ever regional finish. The Etown women placed 14th in the Mideast Region last year, and their best finish at the regional championship to date has been 12th in 1993.

View the complete men's results.

View the complete women's results.