WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Moravian College women's cross country team won the 2013 Landmark Conference championship on Saturday morning at the United States Soldiers and Airmen's Home, hosted by The Catholic University of America.
The Greyhounds finished 16 points and an average time of 20 seconds better than runner-up The Scranton University of America on the 6,000-meter course.
The 2013 title marks the second conference crown in three years for the Moravian women.
"We were very happy to lift that plaque," head coach Jesse Baumann said. "Our main objective was to stick with the favorites in Susquehanna and Scranton, and to make a move at the two-mile mark. We kept them in check and planned our moves perfectly."
Junior Claire Del Casale continued her role as the pacesetter for the Greyhounds, finishing in second place overall out of 61 runners on Saturday. Her time of 23:32.00 was 12 seconds behind the individual champion, Katrina Woods from Juniata College.
"Our goal with Claire was to hang with the top three runners," Baumann said. "These girls have great kicks to close out a race. She made a great move on the race winner, getting 15 meters on her halfway through the race. [Katrina Woods] had too much at the end, but Claire was phenomenal today. She's a great leader of this team and I give her a lot of credit for challenging an amazing runner and having the guts to make a move."
The name of the game for Moravian was consistency, which helped them hoist the Landmark trophy on Saturday. All seven Greyhound scorers finished in the top 25 in the championship race.
Junior Emily Lambright was the second Greyhound finisher in seventh place with a time of 24:38.50.
Junior Devon Bedell and freshman Meg Brockett finished back-to-back in the 11th and 12th positions, respectively. Bedell turned in a time of 25:08.30, just 10ths of a second from reaching the top 10. Brocket stopped the clock at 25:12.10.
Freshman Sarah Hughes rounded out the Moravian scorers with a 15th-place finish in 25:34.20. The Landmark Conference championship scores the top five runners from each team.
Junior Jessie Goldberg had a strong finish in 18th place with a time of 25:54.30, while freshman Erin Love completed her first conference championship race in 22nd place with a time of 26:03.80.
Freshman Larissa Strycharz finished in 30th place, while junior Alyssa Tallon rounded out the Moravian finishers in 37th.
The Greyhounds took home another piece of hardware from the nation's capital on Saturday. Moravian College head coach Jesse Baumann and assistant coaches Jonathan D'Ottavio and Steve Rahn were named the 2013 Landmark Conference Coaching Staff of the Year for women's cross country.
The Greyhounds return to action at the 2013 NCAA Division III Mideast Region Championship, hosted by Muhlenberg College at Lehigh University on Saturday, Nov. 16.
