MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Following last week's season-opening victory, the West Virginia University cross country team travels to Penn State's Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational in University Park, Pennsylvania, on Friday, Sept. 8.

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The race is set to begin at 10 a.m. ET on the Penn State Blue-White Golf Course (6k).
 
"Penn State is always a good place for us to determine our strengths and weaknesses," coach Sean Cleary said. "We are looking for a little more of a gauge as to where we sit in the very early part of the season."
 
The venue is nothing new for WVU, which has competed at Penn State seven times since the 2014 season, including three times last season.
 
West Virginia finished fifth as a team at the Spiked Shoe Invitational in 2016 before placing fourth at the Penn State National Open and NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional later in the year.
 
Friday's meet also marks the sixth consecutive year the Mountaineers will compete at the Spiked Shoe Invitational.
 
The meet features four schools that appear in the USTFCCCA national preseason coaches' poll, including two that are ranked in the top 30. Host Penn State comes in at No. 11, while Georgetown sits at No. 26. West Virginia and Syracuse received votes in the season's initial poll.
 
The regular season opened last Friday at the Lehigh Invitational in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where the Mountaineers earned a 1-2-3-4 finish en route to a team win on the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course (6k) – the site of the 2017 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Friday, Nov. 10.
 
Individually, redshirt senior Maggie Drazba won her first career race, earning a time of 20:58.55. For her efforts, the St. Marys, West Virginia, native was named the WVU Student-Athlete of the Week on Tuesday.
 
Redshirt senior Amy Cashin (21:25.10), redshirt freshman Sarah Wills (21:34.39) and redshirt sophomore Candace Jones (21:54.91) finished second, third and fourth, respectively, helping WVU to a win in the season opener for the second consecutive season and third time in the last four years.
 
Like Lehigh, the Mountaineers will make two trips to Penn State this season. WVU is set to return to University Park for the Penn State National Open on Friday, Oct. 13.
 
"Having the chance to see both of the traditional sites for the NCAA Regionals in the first two weeks is a big plus," Cleary said. "We will run a few new runners this weekend in the hopes to give some different team members the chance to race."
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUCrossCountry on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.