Sept. 1, 2017
Men's Results
Women's Results
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - Penn State opened the 2017 season with sweeps by both the men's and women's teams at the Lock Haven Dolan Duals hosted at the West Branch Cross Country Course Friday night.
"I thought it was a great season opener for Penn State Cross Country," said head coach John Gondak.
"Both the men's and women's teams executed the race plan which was to run as a pack the first half of the race and then test themselves over the second half. What I was really thrilled about was, they say if you have a one-minute gap between your first and seventh runner that's a good showing. I believe we had 11 women within a minute, and nine guys within a minute tonight, with our top runners running some really quality times on that course. It's a start, it's September 1st, we have a long way to go, but it was a great start for Penn State cross country."
For the ninth-straight year, the women's team finished with a perfect score of 15. Jillian Hunsberger led the way finishing the 4-kilometer race with the fourth-fastest time ever recorded on the course - 13:53.87. The only people to finish the course faster than Hunsberger are current teammates Elizabeth Chikotas (13:38.50) and Tessa Barrett (13:37.40) as well as former Penn State great Caitlin Lane who holds the course record at 13:26.52 from 2011.
Following Hunsberger's lead were Greta Lindsley (13:54.40), Danae Rivers (13:54.82), Alison Willingmyre (13:55.96) and Kathryn Munks (14:01.16) to round out scoring for the women's team.
On the men's side, Colin Abert led the way recording the second-fastest time on the 6-kilometer course. Abert crossed the line in 17:31.53 that trailed the course record, held by Penn State's Robby Creese, by only two seconds.
Penn State's other scorers on the day were Timothy McGowan (17:43.93), Bobby Hill (17:58.13), John McGowan (18:07.70), and Ben Bumgarner (18:13.03)
Penn State will return to action next week as they host the annual Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational Sept. 8 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.