The 2009 Moravian College women’s cross country team looks to challenge for the Landmark Conference Championships with the squad returning a majority of its top runners, including seven letterwinners for women and nine letterwinners for the men. The Greyhounds are going into the 2009 season with high hopes ahead of them as fourth-year head coach Welles Lobb looks into building his young team up enough to be a top competitor in the Landmark Conference.

Leading the women’s team is ophomore Kristina Ruggiero (Cedar Grove, NJ/Cedar Grove HS), who ran her personal best of 24:25 at the Lehigh Valley Championship were she placed 32nd out of 60 runners. Ruggiero, pictured at right, also earned Landmark All-Conference Second Team accolades by placing 12th in the Landmark Conference Championship. Fellow sophomore Cadee Rockwell (Sinking Spring, PA/Wilson West Lawn HS) ran her best time of 24:23 at the Paul Short Run where she placed 105th and placed 42nd in the Landmark Conference Championships.

Sophomore Megan Hallowell (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty HS) placed 29th in the Landmark Conference Championship with a time of 26:22 while sophomore Katie Engwall (Columbia, NJ/North Warren HS) finished 45th in the conference meet in 28:11 while posting a season best time of 26:00 at the Paul Short Run. Junior Kaleen Holden (Scranton, PA/Bishop Hannan HS) was 47th in the Landmark Conference Championships while sophomore Katie Pritchett (Pottsville, PA/Pottsville HS) finished 75th.

Coach Lobb has a strong recruiting class coming into this year for the women with several runners expected to make an immediate impact.

The Greyhounds will open the 2009 season on Friday, September 4th at the Lehigh Valley Games taking place at Lehigh University. The 2009 Landmark Conference Championships will be hosted by The Catholic University of America on October 31st in Washington, DC.