MEET DAY: Penn State XC to Host Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational

MEET HISTORY

• The Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational, hosted by Penn State, is named in honor of legendary Penn State track and field coach Harry Groves, who led the men’s program for nearly 40 years, from 1968 until his retirement in 2006.
• A 2001 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee, Groves was named National Coach of the Year five times and Regional Coach of the Year 26 times. He coached 11 American record holders, 21 national champions and 14 Olympians. Groves also served as an assistant coach on the United States’ 1992 Olympic staff.
• Groves compiled a combined record of 667-115-3 at Penn State across cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. His teams went 283-49-1 (.852) in cross country, 218-46-1 (.826) in indoor competition and 166-20-1 (.890) in outdoor competition.

2026 EDITION

• The women’s will compete in a 6k starting at 10:00 a.m. while the men’s will compete in a 5.2 mile race beginning at 10:45 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 11.
• Featured institutions are American, Bucknell, Buffalo, Maryland, Monmouth, Pittsburgh, Saint Joseph’s, and Syracuse.
• Live results will be available and PDF results will be available on Penn State’s website following the meets. 

LAST TIME OUT

• In the 2025 edition of the Spiked Shoe Invitational, the Penn State women won the team title with 19 points, finishing 31 points ahead of runner-up Syracuse.
• Florence Caron captured the individual title in 19:54.7, winning by more than 23 seconds over the second-place finisher.
• The Nittany Lions placed five runners among the top six overall, with senior Claire Zubey, sophomore Ada Rand, Claire Daniels ’25 and graduate student Charlotte Costich finishing third through sixth, respectively. Lea Hatcher added a ninth-place finish, while Katie Dallas placed 11th.
•  The Penn State men finished second overall with 62 points, trailing only Syracuse. 
• The Nittany Lions placed five runners amongst the 24 overall.
• Isaac Oppermann led Penn State, completing the 5.2 mile course in 25:27.3 to finish 14th. 
• Penn State’s first five runners finished within just 14.4 seconds of one another, followed by senior Nick Sloff, sophomore Jaxon Schoedel, Justin Healey ‘25, and sophomore Adam Kingston.

SERIES SWEEP

• Last week, on Sept. 4, Penn State competed in the 19th annual Dolan Duals in Lock Haven, Pa., where both the women’s and men’s teams earned victories over Lock Haven University.
• Senior Claire Zubey led the Penn State women, winning the 5K in 17:29. First-year Vivian Kipruto followed in second with a time of 17:34 in her collegiate debut, while sophomore Caroline Tribett placed third in 17:36 in her first collegiate cross country race. Graduate student Katie Dallas finished fourth in 17:47, and first-year Reese Miller rounded out Penn State’s top five in her collegiate debut with a time of 17:50.
• On the men’s side, sophomore Isaac Oppermann earned first place in 15:27.3, followed by sophomore Adam Kingston in second at 15:28.7 in his Dolan Duals debut. Senior Brian DiCola finished third in 15:33.8, while first-years Thomas Rae (fourth, 15:34.3) and Dorian Bening (fifth, 15:34.6) rounded out Penn State’s top five in their collegiate cross country debuts.

FRESH FACES

• The women’s team welcomes seven newcomers to the roster: Ana Bondy (Carlisle, Pa.), Fancy Chepkoech (Kenya), Bailey Espinosa (Lewisburg, Pa.), Grace Fritzman (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Vivian Kipruto (Kenya), Reese Miller (Gwynedd Valley, Pa.) and Ella White (Wake Forest, N.C./UNC Charlotte).
• The men’s team welcomes five newcomers: Dorian Bening (Woodland Hills, Calif.), Matthew Gosling (Newton, Pa.), Justin Landis (North Wales, Pa.), Colin O’Donnell (Collegeville, Pa.) and Thomas Rae (Leesburg, Va.).

THE RETURNERS

• Women’s cross country welcomes back 11 returners including graduate students Charlotte Costich (Buffalo, N.Y.), Katie Dallas (West Lawn, Pa.) and Lea Hatcher (Morgantown, W. Va.,); senior Claire Zubey (Spring City, Pa.); and sophomores Liliah Gordon (Chesterfield, N.J.), Jane Kratz (Pottstown, Pa.), Wren Kucler (Wexford, Pa.), Eva Kynaston (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Emma Brooke Levering (Homewood, Ala.), Lauren Stine (Hagerstown, Md.) and Caroline Tribett (Gainesville, Va.).
• Men’s cross country welcomes back 12 returners: graduate students Caiden Leen (Downingtown, Pa.) and Ryan Watson (Falls Church, Va.); seniors Jake Borgesi (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Brian DiCola (Horsham, Pa.), Tyler Rader (Huntingdon, Pa.), T.J. Roden (Harrisburg, Pa.), Nick Sloff (State College, Pa.) and Logan Stawser (McAlisterville, Pa.); and sophomores Michael Braun (Worthington, Pa.), Adam Kingston (Lititz, Pa.), Isaac Oppermann (Port Matilda, Pa.) and Jaxon Schodel (Enon Valley, Pa.).

NATIONALLY RANKED | REGIONALLY RECOGNIZED

• The Nittany Lions enter the 2026 cross country season with the women ranked No. 10 nationally and No. 2 regionally, following a historic 2025 season, while the men check in at No. 4 in the region.

BIG TEN RUNNERS TO WATCH

• Graduate student Charlotte Costich and senior Nick Sloff were named Big Ten Runners to Watch by the conference on Aug. 19 ahead of the 2026 season.
• Costich was a scoring runner in all six meets in which she competed during the 2025 season.
• She helped Penn State record four top-two team finishes, including victories at the Dolan Duals and Spiked Shoe Invitational and runner-up finishes at the Paul Short Run and Big Ten Championships.
• Costich finished as the Nittany Lions’ No. 2 runner in each of her final three races at the Nuttycombe Invitational, Big Ten Championships and NCAA Championships.
• She earned Second-Team All-Big Ten honors after placing eighth at the conference championships, helping Penn State finish second with 78 points.
• Costich capped the season by placing 93rd as Penn State’s No. 2 finisher at the NCAA Championships, contributing to the Nittany Lions’ 10th-place team finish.
• Sloff emerged as Penn State’s top runner during the 2025 season, finishing as the Nittany Lions’ No. 1 runner in each of his final five meets.
• He placed 23rd at the Big Ten Championships with a time of 24:00.4.
• Sloff finished sixth at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional in 29:37.0, helping Penn State place fourth and earning an individual berth in the NCAA Championships.
• In his first NCAA Championships appearance, Sloff placed 132nd in the men’s 10K with a time of 29:49.2, the best finish by a Penn State men’s runner at the national championships since 2013.
• Sloff became the second Nittany Lion to qualify individually for the NCAA Championships in as many seasons, following Brian DiCola in 2024.

ONE FOR THE BOOKS

• During 2025 season, the women recorded five top-three team finishes, while the men collected four top-five team finishes.
• The women earned their national and regional rankings after finishing 10th at the 2025 NCAA Championships, marking the program’s highest finish since 1994.
• Florence Caron ’25 earned a 14th-place finish, the highest by a Nittany Lion at the NCAA Championships in 25 years.
• Caron also earned back-to-back All-America finishes in 2024 and 2025, marking the first time a Nittany Lion accomplished the feat since the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
• The 2025 NCAA Championships marked the third consecutive season the women qualified for the national meet, the program’s first stretch of at least three consecutive appearances since 2016-19.
• On the men’s side, Nick Sloff finished 132nd at the NCAA Championships, marking the highest finish by a Penn State men’s runner since 2013.

PUTTING THE BIG TEN ON NOTICE

• The women’s team earned a second-place finish at the 2025 Big Ten Championships, its best result since also finishing second in 2016.
• Florence Caron’s career-best fourth-place finish earned her a second consecutive First Team All-Big Ten honor.
• Charlotte Costich and Ada Rand joined Caron in earning All-Big Ten honors, marking the program’s most since 2020. Costich ran 20:11.7 to place eighth and earn the first All-Big Ten First Team honor of her career. Rand rounded out Penn State’s top three finishers, running 20:23.3 to earn All-Big Ten honors for the first time in her career.