2016 Season Commences with WVU Alumni Open

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University cross country team opened the 2016 season with the WVU Alumni Open on Thursday at the Mon River Rail Trail in Morgantown.

The Mountaineers had a total of 18 runners on the 4k trail, six of which were alumni.

“Tonight was a good night,” said coach Sean Cleary. “The weather broke a little bit today and we had a little later start. I think for the first time in a month, we’ve had conditions that were a little bit more conducive towards running well. We had big improvement over last year. The fastest time last year was 11:11-11:12, and we had a couple of girls beat that today, which is exciting. The atmosphere is good, they’re smiling. It’s probably the best way to start the season, low key, fun and ready to move forward.”

The unique aspect of the WVU Alumni Open is that the runners compete in pairs of two. There were a total of nine teams, with one teammate running the first leg of the race and the second runner making the return trip. Runners recorded both a team time and an individual time.

Junior Amy Cashin came in first place with an individual time of 10:36, and senior Megan Yuan crossed the finish line in second place (10:55).

The winning team consisted of Cashin and junior Brynn Harshbarger as they finished with a time of 21:47.15. Yuan and junior Maggie Drazba took second place as a team (21:54.22).

Five WVU cross country alumni competed in tonight’s race, including NCAA All-American Sarah Martinelli, last year’s NCAA Mid-Atlantic All-Regional runner Savanna Plombon and NCAA All-American and 2013 and 2014 Pittsburgh marathon winner Clara Santucci.

West Virginia will open regular-season competition at the Texas Tech Invitational on Sept. 8, in Lubbock, Texas.

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

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2016 Season Commences with WVU Alumni Open

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