Mountaineers Place Fourth at Penn State Open

Friday, October 14

University Park, Pa.

11:30 a.m.

West Virginia University

Penn State Open

olivia-hill-main.jpg

October 14, 2016 02:34 PM | Cross Country

MORGANTOWN, W.VA. – The No. 30 West Virginia University cross country team posted a fourth-place finish at the Penn State National Open in State College, Pennsylvania, on Friday at the Blue and White Course.

Results

Today's event was the Mountaineers' last meet of the regular season before the Big 12 Championship. West Virginia finished the season strong, taking fourth place with a team score of 145 in the 19-team women's 6k race. WVU added two top-11 individual finishes.

“I thought we were good today,” said coach Sean Cleary. “We came off of Lehigh a little beat up, yet came out today and ran very hard. We need to correct a few things over the next month to be exactly where we expect to be. Maggie (Drazba) had another strong run to lead the team. Spirits are good, but we want lore out of ourselves.”

Four nationally ranked teams grabbed the top-four finishes at the Penn State National Open. No. 8 Penn State won the race with 47 points, followed by No. 25 Mississippi in second (94), No. 14 Oklahoma State in third (114) and No. 30 West Virginia in fourth (145).

WVU's two top-11 individual finishes came from redshirt juniors Maggie Drazba and Jillian Forsey. Drazba led the way for the Mountaineers, placing 10th overall with a time of 20:38. Forsey was just .03 seconds behind, crossing the finish line in 11th with a time of 20:41.

Redshirt junior Amy Cashin placed 23rd overall with a time of 20:56, followed by senior Brianna Kerekes in 48th (21:21), redshirt junior Brynn Harshbarger in 53rd (21:28), redshirt freshman Olivia Hill in 64th (21:40) and redshirt senior Megan Yuan in 67th (21:43).

Harshbarger's time of 21:28 is a season-best time, shedding .05 seconds off her time of 21:33 that she ran at the Paul Short Invitational on October 1.

This was the second time the Mountaineers competed on the Nittany Lions' course this season, as the team also raced there on September 8, at the Spiked Shoe Invitational.

In two weeks, WVU will compete for a Big 12 title at the 2016 Big 12 Cross Country Championship in Lubbock, Texas, on October 29. West Virginia was able to preview the championship course earlier this season, as the team opened its season winning the Texas Tech Invitational on September 8.

For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUCrossCountry on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.