Chris Lemon has a lot to be proud of, but he wants to make sure the entire cross country team is recognized for its performance at the Atlantic 10 championship meet.

Despite being the first ever individual to win the A-10 championship for UD, the junior wants it known that the team finished a best ever third place.

"I think the coaching and the guys I'm running with are a big support group and how I got to that point [of winning]," Lemon said.

Lemon and the team battled against unfavorable weather conditions during the meet.

"We just got in there and competed," Lemon said. "It was a very, very muddy course and so we just fought for a position and ended up finishing in a pretty good spot."

Head coch Rich Davis attributes Lemon's success to his work and training habits.

"Chris does everything right," Davis said. "He trains correctly. He doesn't over-train, he doesn't under-train. He monitors his diet, he monitors his recovery because training is very good, but you have to have proper recovery. He tries to get the proper sleep and he tries to get the proper nutrition and the proper recovery on recovery days."

Lemon knew if he worked his hardest he had the capability to win the championship.

"I think it's kind of been a long time coming," he said. "I was Performer of the Week a few times during the year and I figured if I worked as hard as I knew I could, I could probably win the meet."

Mental toughness also played an important role in Lemon's win.

"The key to Chris' success is he's a very mentally tough runner," Davis said. "He doesn't let things get him down and he forges ahead. He ran through eight kilometers of very thick mud to win that A-10 championship and he enjoyed doing it. He's a very tough competitor mentally."

Lemon has benefited from having teammates to push him all season. Redshirt senior Mike Andersen and twin brother Matt Lemon also finished in the top nine at the meet.

"This is a great group of guys and I just feel very privileged to run with these guys," Chris Lemon said.

The Flyers will compete in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet on Nov. 14 in Bloomington, Ind.

"Our goal is to qualify out as a team [for nationals] and to do that we'll need to have the three of us up front, probably finishing in the top 20," Lemon said.

Last season the Flyers finished in 12th place overall and are ranked seventh this year in the coaches' poll going into regionals.

"We're looking to at least match the coaches' poll and finish seventh or better," Davis said. "Everybody has to be on that day. For us to race well as a team everybody has to have their own individual best race because it's over 10 kilometers and it's the longest distance race we run all year long."

For now the team is only concentrated on the regional meet.

"Right now we're just focused on regionals because if we don't perform well there then nationals doesn't exist," Chris Lemon said. "We aren't doing anything incredibly difficult, nothing to burn out our legs. We'll be talking about the race as a team and figuring out what strategies we will use."

The Flyers will come into this race knowing that it could be their last of the season.

"We are just going to get in there and compete," Lemon said. "It's kind of a different environment now because we're going into it thinking it's the last race. So, in that way we'll have a totally different mindset."