CENTER VALLEY, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College won its third consecutive Middle Atlantic Conference women's cross country championship on Saturday at DeSales University, scoring 56 points to edge Messiah College by four points for the team title.

Blue Jay senior Megan VanDenHengel won the individual championship with a time of 23:31.47 over the 6,000-meter course, finishing 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Caitlin Dorgan of Delaware Valley College. It is the third time in the last four years that an Elizabethtown runner won the MAC championship, as Erin Fisher captured the title in both 2006 and 2007.

VanDenHengel was named MAC Runner of the Year for her performance in the championship meet, while Taryn Shank took Rookie of the Year honors after finishing sixth overall with a time of 24:33.81. Blue Jay head coach Brian Falk was honored as MAC Coach of the Year for the second straight year after all 12 of his runners finished in the top half of the field of 129 runners, including nine in the top 50.

Kathryn Howser finished 11th overall with a time of 25:41.04, followed by Sarah Merusi in 12th place at 25:41.32. Sarah Steinmetz was the fifth and final Blue Jay runner to score, finishing 28th overall in 26:17.68 to clinch the championship for Elizabethtown.

Teresa Beshore ran in 37th place at 26:39.70, with Marquel Bowler taking 38th place in 26:41.35. Jill Casey took 44th place in 27:06.95, and Megan Patton came in 49th with a time of 27:19.25.

Elizabethtown and Messiah were the only teams to crack 100 points in the team standings, with Misericordia University finishing third with an even 100 points. Lebanon Valley College (128 points), Delaware Valley (147 points) and King's College (150 points) rounded out the top six among the 14 teams that scored at the meet.