WVU Claims Victory at Texas Tech Open

Thursday, September 8

Lubbock, Texas

9:00 a.m.

West Virginia University

Texas Tech Invitational

forsey-jillian-main.jpg

September 08, 2016 01:55 PM | Cross Country

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Starting off the 2016 regular season on a victorious note, West Virginia University cross country runner Jillian Forsey won the women's 6k race at the Texas Tech Open in Lubbock, Texas, helping WVU collect a team win, on Thursday.

Today, was the first time WVU competed at the Red Raiders Rawls Course, and the Mountaineers swept the victories as a team and individually. WVU posted four top-six finishes, including a first-place finish from redshirt junior Forsey.

Texas Tech Open Results

“This was a solid opener for the team,” said coach Sean Cleary. “We certainly learned a lot regarding where we are at the moment. Our group will leave here in good spirits, but fully aware that we have a long way to go before we are on position to reach our goals. I am happy with this as a starting point. We plan to get better.”

Out of 12 teams competing today, WVU won scoring 20 points, while besting Texas Tech by 15 points. The Red Raiders finished second with a team score of 35.

With 98 runners in the mix, West Virginia's redshirt junior Forsey easily made her presence up front, winning the race with a time of 21:05.50. Behind Forsey was teammate redshirt junior Maggie Drazba who placed second overall with a time of 21:27.80.

Redshirt junior Brynn Harshbarger finished in fourth place with a time of 22:38.80 and senior Brianna Kerekes placed sixth with a time of 22:46.00. Redshirt senior Megan Yuan placed ninth overall in 23:01.10.

The last time the Mountaineers won a regular-season opener was in 2014 at the Lehigh Invitational.

In two days, select Mountaineers will head to State College, Pennsylvania, to compete at the PSU Spiked Shoe Invitational, at 10 a.m. ET. It marks the fifth consecutive season that WVU will race on Penn State's Blue/White Golf Course. In 2015, the team placed third with four top-20 finishers out of 52 runners on the 6k course.

More information about the PSU Spiked Shoe Invitational can be found here, meet Info.

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