BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Moravian College women's cross country team officially opened the 2013 season at the Lehigh University Invitational on Saturday morning.
The Greyhounds finished seventh out of the 13 teams that ran on the Goodman Campus course on a muggy summer morning, but more importantly, accomplished a number of personal early-season goals.
Junior Claire Del Casale ran a personal-record 24:13.16 at the 6K distance. In unfavorable conditions, Del Casale's run was even more impressive, according to Head Coach Jesse Baumann.
"Claire had a great race," Baumann said of the junior's 26th place finish. "She's a gamer and set a personal best in very hard conditions. It's very exciting to see that and it gives us great expectations for her for the rest of the season."
Fellow junior Emily Lambright didn't finish far behind her classmate with a 25:08.28. Junior Jessie Goldberg (24:43.96), freshman Sarah Hughes (25:48.66), freshman Meg Brockett (26:00.84) and junior Devon Bedell (26:42.65) rounded out Moravian finishers in the top 100.
The team reached an important goal of keeping up with a tough local rival in Muhlenberg College at a tough early-season meet. The Greyhounds finished 10 points behind the Mules at Lehigh.
"That will be a good barometer of our progress this year," Baumann said. "It was a rough day to run in. We wanted to start a little slower than we did, so we exerted a lot of energy in humid conditions and that can hinder a team's success."
The Moravian harriers return to the trails on Saturday, September 7 at the Landmark Preview at the Catholic University of America. The gun sounds at 10 a.m.
