FAYETTE, PA – NHTI turned in a historic performance this weekend at the USCAA National Championships, securing a second-place finish, the program's highest placement ever.  

Eli Lemire once again led the way for the Lynx, finishing as the individual runner-up with a time of 27:53. YSCC counterpart Eliot Soderholm of Paul Smith's finished in first, seven seconds ahead of Lemire. The two also competed at the top in last weekend's YSCC championship where it was Lemire who took home the title, just in front of Soderholm.

Jaron Labranche and Andrew Strauss were the next to cross the finish line for the Lynx, finishing in 16th and 17th, while Michael Wilson (28th) and Jorge Guerra (48th) rounded out the finishers for the men's team.

"The men's race started aggressively," said Lynx coach Graham Hayslip. "Eli sat back, allowing the outliers to fall back on him, he was eventually able to close in on Soderholm causing a thrilling finish. Jaron, Andrew and Michael worked incredibly hard for placement in the second and third groups and Jorge battled through calf and quad injuries tohold his spot. Overall, we finished two points above Christendom College to finish second, the highest at this event in program history. I am incredibly proud of these competitors, athletics may have to build a new trophy case for their accomplishment!"

On the women's side, NHTI featured two competitors, Amy Schwab and Shealyn Finlay. Schwab surpassed her time at last week's YSCC Championship by just under a minute while Finlay, who did not race last week, finished the race in 47 minutes.  

"Shaelyn and Amy did an amazing job representing the Lynx women," Hayslip added. "Amy finished with a PR in the 6-kilometer race on one of the toughest courses we raced on all year and Shaelyn battled through a fall and a wrong turn. One of the key things I saw during the race was that they were both smiling ear to ear throughout. Way to go ladies!" 

For his second place finish Eli Lemire was nominated as a member of the USCAA All-American team, his second time earning the prestigious award.