MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The No. 20 West Virginia University cross country team placed 27th at the seventh annual Wisconsin adidas Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin, today.

 

The race took place at the Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course (6k). West Virginia finished with a team score of 601.

 

“This was obviously not the performance that we were hoping for today,” said coach Sean Cleary. “For some reason we are not running the way we are capable of. I did see some good things out there today, but it just wasn’t enough.”

 

A total of 36 teams competed, including 20 of the top-30 nationally ranked squads. Five of those 20 teams are tanked in the top 10.

 

New Mexico won the meet with a team score of 32 points, followed by Arkansas (188), Virginia (217), NC St. (240), Providence (264), Boise State (275), Iowa State (283), Washington (293), BYU (316) and Penn State (352).

 

Sophomore Brynn Harshbarger finished first for the Mountaineers, placing 97th overall in 20:57.6.  Sophomore Maggie Drazba finished second for the Mountaineers, placing 115th overall (21:08.5), followed by classmate Millie Paladino in 124th (21:13.5).

 

Sophomore Amy Cashin ran a 6k time of 21:15.2 and was the fourth Mountaineer finisher. Senior Savanna Plombon finished with a time of 21:22.1.

 

Rounding out the Mountaineer finishers were freshman Anna French and senior Kelly Williams.

 

“We have two weeks to find 15-20 seconds per girl,” said Cleary. “We fully understand that we have to improve in order to return back to the NCAA meet.”

 

Next up, the Mountaineers travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to compete at the Big 12 Championship on Saturday, Oct. 31. This will be the Cowboys’ third time hosting the event on the Oklahoma State Cross Country Course.