WVU Finishes Eighth at Penn State National Open

Friday, October 13

University Park, Pa.

10:45 a.m.

West Virginia University

Penn State National Open

October 13, 2017 01:36 PM | Cross Country

By: Joe Mitchin

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 29 West Virginia University cross country team earned an eighth-place team finish at the Penn State National Open in University Park, Pennsylvania, on Friday.

MEET RESULTS

Led by redshirt senior Amy Cashin, the Mountaineers saw a pair of runners finish in the top 20 of a field of 178 participants. Cashin paced WVU with a 6k time of 20:43 – her best career time at Penn State – on the Nittany Lions' Blue-White Golf Course, finishing 11th in the process.

Redshirt senior Maggie Drazba was next for WVU, earning a 20th-place finish in 20:57.

"Leaving Penn State, a course we know very well, we have mixed feelings," WVU coach Sean Cleary said. "Some of the girls ran their career-best times and others are coming off little mishaps and are back in the game and running quite well for us. Overall, we want to be a little higher as a team. We need to be a little better than this in the next couple of weeks."

Freshman Hayley Jackson finished 49th in a time of 21:28 in her first 6k race as a Mountaineer, while redshirt sophomore Olivia Hill crossed the finish line in 21:46, good for 65th place. Redshirt sophomore Candace Jones placed 66th in a time of 21:47.

Redshirt freshman Sarah Wills (21:59) and freshman Bree Warren (22:05) also competed for West Virginia in Friday's race. The duo finished 72nd and 78th, respectively.

The Mountaineers were one of 17 schools competing at the Penn State National Open, which hosted four nationally-ranked programs. WVU finished with 211 points as a team.

The host Nittany Lions, ranked No. 10 in the latest United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) National Coaches' Poll, won the race with 44 points. No. 15 Villanova (62), Dartmouth (122), Princeton (125) and Cornell (162) rounded out the top five.

Friday marked the third consecutive year and eighth time in the past decade WVU competed at the Penn State National Open. The meet also was the Mountaineers' second visit to Penn State this season. The team ran at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational on Sept. 8.

In all, West Virginia has competed on the Blue-White Golf Course nine times since 2014.

"There are enough positives today to have the kids go home and know that man-for-man, we just need a bit more and we're a national-class program," Cleary said. "I think that's how we're going to approach the next few weeks. We're not leaving here devastated; we're leaving here with some very positive things and will focus on what we need to do to be ready for the conference meet."

Friday was the Mountaineers' final regular-season meet. In two weeks, WVU travels to the 2017 Big 12 Cross Country Championship at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, Texas, on Saturday, Oct. 28.

WVU finished third at the conference meet last season.

For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUCrossCountry on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.