UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's and women's cross country teams ran well at the Penn State National Open on Friday morning. The women's squad finished second place (85 team points) out of 18 participating teams in their 6K race, while the men finished ninth (182 points) out of 14 teams on the 5.2 mile course.
Head Coach John Gondak remarked on the team's performance in its final meet of the regular season.
"I'm really proud of the way the women competed today," Gondak said. "We had an excellent showing, and the result sets us up well as we head into the postseason for both the Big Ten championships and the [NCAA] Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships which we host here. The men's team was an improvement over [the Notre Dame Invite] and we had some really good things happen individually today that we look to build off of as we head into the Big Ten meet in two weeks."
RV West Virginia (65 points) took the top spot in the women's race, with Penn State (85 points) finishing right behind.
On the men's side, the Explorers from LaSalle (50 points) won the event, and Penn State slotted above five regional teams, who they will host once again when the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional race comes to Happy Valley on November 11.
Jonah Powell led the men's squad and finished in 21st place with a 5.2-mile time of 25:58.5.
The women were led by Faith DeMars, who set a personal best 6K time of 20:34.9 and finished in fifth place overall.
Penn State Women's Top Five Results:
Points Runner Time
5 Faith DeMars 20:34.8
11 Kileigh Kane 20:51.2
13 Madaline Ullom 20:57.8
15 Sophia Toti 21:03.1
41 Libby Benzer 21:43.5
Penn State Men's Top Five Results:
Points Runner Time
21 Jonah Powell 25:58.5
32 Brandon Hontz 26:10.2
37 Christopher DeSousa 26:18.5
45 Behailu Bekele-Arcuri 26:30.5
47 Hayden Healey 26:33.4
What's Next
With the regular season wrapped up, the Nittany Lions travel to Ann Arbor for the Big Ten Championships on October 28.
For more coverage of Penn State men's and women's cross country and track and field, be sure to follow the program on Instagram (@PennStateTFXC) and Twitter (@PennStateTFXC) and "like" the Penn State Cross Country and Track & Field Page on Facebook.
