LINCOLN, Neb. – Senior Colin Abert and freshman Julia Paternain both finished 10th overall in their respective races Sunday at the 2018 Big Ten Cross County Championships. The meet was hosted by the University of Nebraska at the Mahoney Golf Course.
In the women's team standings, No. 13 Penn State finished fourth overall with a score of 103 points. The No. 7 Michigan Wolverines took first (57), followed by No. 14 Michigan State (75), and No. 11 Wisconsin (89).
The men's team standings saw No. 3 Wisconsin win the title with a score of 38 points. Along with Wisconsin, No. 18 Purdue finished second (88), and No. 22 Indiana (108) placed third. The Nittany Lion men finished ninth overall with a score of 212 points.
Action got underway at 11:45 a.m. (EDT) with the women's 6,000-meter run. In the race, Paternain was in the top-10 at every split and crossed the finish line at 20:22.9 to pace the Nittany Lions. Along with Paternain, Danae Rivers and Alison Willingmyre both recorded top-20 finishes for the Blue & White. Rivers completed the course in 20:35.3 to finish 14th overall, while Willingmyre took 18th with her time of 20:41.0.
Kathryn Munks and Moira O'Shea rounded out the scoring for the Nittany Lions, as Munks crossed the finish line in 20:45.2 to place 23rd and O'Shea ran 21:12.3 to place 40th.
On the men's side, Abert finished the 8,000-meter course in 10th (23:56.9) to lead PSU. In addition to Abert, Owen Wing ran 24:42.2 (40th), Alex Tomasko took 47th (24:53.5), Ben Bumgarner finished in 25:04.4 (59th), and John McGowan ran 25:17.6 (71st).
Following the races, Abert, Paternain and Rivers were named to the All-Big Ten second team.
Fans can watch a tape-delay of the 2018 Big Ten Cross Country Championships on the Big Ten Network on Monday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m. (EDT).
The Nittany Lions return home to the Blue-White Golf Course to host the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Friday, Nov. 9. The meet gets underway at noon.