Both Penn State’s men’s and women’s Cross Country teams finished vith very respectable 9th place showings in the team scoring this past weekend at the Roy Griak Invitational held at the University of Minnesota. 

The mens race consisted of 22 teams and 213 runners, while the womens race consisted of 29 teams and 300 runners.

In order to do well at a big time cross country meet, you need to have one of two things– at least one runner up near the front of the pack, which the mens team had with Junior Kyle Dawson finishing 13th overall, or a solid pack, which the Nittany Lion women provided with their top 5 all within an impressive 35 seconds of each other. 

The strong women’s pack was led by Natalie Bower. The sophomore finished a strong 34th overall with a time of 21:54 and was the Lions number 1 runner for the first time in her career. 

Penn State’s race schedule will not get any easier this week as they travel to South Bend, Ind., the home of Notre Dame University, for the Notre Dame Invitational, which is scheduled to include some of the top XC teams in the country. 

Full results of the Roy Griak Invitational can be found here.

Upcoming Schedule-

October 1st- at Notre Dame Invitational