Competing for the first time in nearly a month, the Muhlenberg cross country teams set a host of personal bests at Gettysburg's Aubrey Shenk Invitational.

The meet was the Mules' final tuneup for the Centennial Conference Championships.

The men came in 19th out of 42 teams in the large meet, placing 13th among Division III squads. The women finished 26th of 46 teams, just eight points behind CC rival Bryn Mawr and 16 points ahead of another CC squad, McDaniel.

Senior David Seel led the men's team, placing 93rd out of 465 runners. His time of 26:25.8 was a personal best by nearly a minute, down from 27:22.5. Seel made up considerable ground during the latter part of the race, moving up 39 spots from the 3-mile mark to the finish.

Senior Raam Ravishankar (pictured above left) came in second among Mule runners, clocking just shy of his personal best. Joshua Cazares, one of several freshmen running their first collegiate 8K races, was the third Muhlenberg finisher.

Sophomore Niklas Haraldsson lowered his 8K personal best more than a minute from 28:37.5 to 27:17.7, coming in fifth among the Mules.

Muhlenberg Top 7 (men)
93. David Seel, 26:25.8
130. Raam Ravishankar, 26:52.2
142. Joshua Cazares, 26:55.8
154. Matthew Hajel, 27:07.9
168. Niklas Haraldsson, 27:17.7
239. Jack Coppa, 28:04.1
283. Michael Rofaiel, 28:40.3

Senior Maggie Holderith was the top finisher for the Muhlenberg women, followed by freshman Ella Schweitzer, who lowered her 6K personal best by almost 30 seconds from 24:42.3 to 24:12.8.

Sophomore Ava Azzinnari knocked her PR down more than 30 seconds, from 26:04.2 to 25:33.6, and moved up 12 places from the 3-mile mark to the finish line.

Three runners in their first year with the program also set huge personal bests - junior Olivia Maytin (pictured above right) by almost two minutes from 27:41.1 to 25:43.7, freshman Em Marie Clewell from 30:00.4 to 26:44.1, and sophomore Val Sanchez from 30:51.1 to 29:00.5.

Muhlenberg Top 7 (women)
134. Maggie Holderith, 23:54.7
165. Ella Schweitzer, 24:12.8
242. Ava Lundy, 25:17.4
261. Ava Azzinnari, 25:33.6
270. Olivia Maytin, 25:43.7
272. Ella Borello, 25:44.7
315. Em Marie Clewell, 26:44.1

complete results