Sept. 4, 2015
Men's Results Women's Results
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. -- Making the winning move over the final 800-meters of the race, Ean DiSilvio (Pittsburgh, Pa.) outlasted Lock Haven's Dylan Mountain to claim the individual title on the men's side while senior team captain Tori Gerlach (Perkasie, Pa.) led the women to a perfect score of 15 for the seventh consecutive year.
"It was a pack of six or seven guys up front (for Penn State)," said head coach John Gondak. "Dylan Mountain from Lock Haven made a great move to take the lead and push the pace; Ean DiSilvio covered that move and stayed with him. Over the last 800-meters (DiSilvio) came back at him and took charge of the race to take the individual victory. We had a great pack behind those two to take five of the top six spots."
DiSilvio won the Dolan Duals for the first time in his career as he ran the 6,000-meter course in 17 minutes, 41.74 seconds. On the women's side, Gerlach, a first time participant at the Dolan Duals, claimed the women's individual title with her final time of 14:00.98. "It was a great meet (I'm) very pleased with the start of things," said Gondak.
As a team, the men's side posted an overall score of 19 points; the women were able to capture a perfect score of 15 points as they swept the first- through fifth-place scoring spots. Freshman Colin Abert (Kennett Square, Pa.) took third-place in the men's race with his overall time of 17:53.64 in his Nittany Lion debut.
This year's Dolan Duals featured 11 athletes getting their first collegiate cross country action amongst the Penn State men's and women's cross country teams.
Included in the group of first timers were, Abert who snagged third-place in the men's race, Timothy McGowan (Northport, N.Y.) who claimed fifth-place, Jordan Makins (Perth, Australia) in 13th-place, along with John Dugan (Ramsey, N.J.) (16th-place) and Will Cather (Port Matilda, Pa.) rounding out the field for the men in 22nd-place.
"Overall I'm pleased with how all of the new comers performed today," said Gondak.
"For the women, they took control of the race early and stayed together as pack through the first half of the race, after that I told them to test each other over the second half and they did a great job of doing exactly that," said Gondak. "Everyone ran a good 20-30 seconds faster this year than they did last year."
In the women's race, sophomore Elizabeth Chikotas (Hellertown, Pa.) and Jillian Hunsberger (Pittsburgh, Pa.) claimed second and third, respectively. Chikotas posted a time of 14:06.10 and Hunsberger was close behind with her time of 14:26.68. Julie Kocjancic (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was a little over six seconds behind Hunsberger's time to finish fourth (14:33.53). Rounding out the scoring for Penn State was Greta Lindsley (Lancaster, Pa.). Lindsley finished the 4,000-meter course in a time of 14:36.96.
Gerlach's winning time of 14:00.98 stands as the No. 3 all-time for the event and distance on the Lock Haven course, while the DiSilvio's winning time of 17:41.74 also finished as No. 3 all-time for the event and distance at the Dolan Duals meet.
The Nittany Lions return home next weekend for the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational on Sept. 11, at the Blue-White Golf Course.
For more on Nittany Lion cross country, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter @PennStateTFXC.