Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational XC

[Nevada Hoya]

This Friday the Hoyas encounter their first big meet. It is the first meet that will count in the at-large rankings, which determine those teams that do not finish in the top two in their regions. The system for at-large selections is very complex, so the higher the Hoyas finish in these meets and the more teams they beat will be crucial. As we saw last year you cannot depend on finishing in the top two in the regionals. The men finished 3rd at the region last year and did not have enough at-large points to be selected. The women may be a year away from coming back to the NCAAs, but they should improve over last year.

[Nevada Hoya]

Unfortunately, not many teams are running the PSU Spiked Shoe invitational: Penn State, Georgetown, Saint Francis, University of Guelph, West Virginia (W).
None of the teams are predicted to make the NCAA (except maybe PSU). Therefore, not too many chance of picking up at-large points. St. Francis has in the past one or two runners that were at the elite level. And Guelph being Canadian is not likely to count for at-large points. So, essentially no good can come out of this meet (except the Hoyas running well), but some bad if the Hoyas lose.

[birdman]

Sept 12, 2019 16:30:01 GMT -5 Nevada Hoya said:

Unfortunately, not many teams are running the PSU Spiked Shoe invitational: Penn State, Georgetown, Saint Francis, University of Guelph, West Virginia (W).
None of the teams are predicted to make the NCAA (except maybe PSU). Therefore, not too many chance of picking up at-large points. St. Francis has in the past one or two runners that were at the elite level. And Guelph being Canadian is not likely to count for at-large points. So, essentially no good can come out of this meet (except the Hoyas running well), but some bad if the Hoyas lose.

That stinks! Looking at the weekend schedule, I guess maybe teams are going to William & Mary instead? I know Nova sometimes runs at Haverford's Main Line Invite as a workout, so maybe that's where they'll be. Thankfully the Hoyas will be at the Wisconsin meet to hopefully pick up some at-large points in a strong field there.

[reformation]

Doesn't seem like men or women have full lineups so maybe lower level meet is intentional--hard to say

[Nevada Hoya]

Holy Cow!!! Women beat PSU, ranked #1 in the region: 25-41. PSU women had won this meet the last seven times in a row.

[Nevada Hoya]

Here is the listing of how the women fared:

2. Maddy Perez 20:53.4 Obviously great race by Maddy and great start to her 6th year.
4. Alyssa Aldridge 21.11.6
5. Katherine Modrall 21:13.0
6. Sami Corman 21:20.2
8. Maggie Donahue 21.30.7
11. Margie Cullen 21:34.5
12. Meg Mathison 21.37.0
14. Maegan Doody 21.38.9
15. Kate Dammer 21.42.1
16. Kate Tavella 21.42.2
18. Rachel Sessa 21.49.1 (Rachel was first Hoya last week)
21. Pippa Nuttall 22:05.9
33. Olivia Arizin 22:57.0
Baylee Jones DNF (Baylee is the sister of the NCAA champ)(

[Nevada Hoya]

The women got seven runners before the PSU 4th runner. If this were football, I would say the Pack is back!!!
BTW, PSU women are/were ranked 14th in the nation.

[Nevada Hoya]

The men were exactly opposite of the women as PSU beat the Hoyas 36-40. The Hoyas were deeper as they got seven men before the PSU 6th runner. The only consolation is that the Hoyas did not have Nick Wareham and Jack Van Scoter, our two best runners from last year. Christian Liddell and Matt Bouthillette were also not running. But that hurts as far as at-large points and PSU was ranked lower in the region than the Hoyas.

[hoyaduck]

Always found it weird that the men's course at PSU is 5.2 miles. Surely it can't be that hard to shave off .2 miles, right?

[Nevada Hoya]

The places and times for the men over the 5.2 mile course (the women ran 6K).

2. Spencer Brown 25.39.8 a great start for Spencer as he put in many miles this summer
4. Ty Brownlow 25.47.3 a breakout run for Ty.
9. Price Owens 25:59.3 another good start for our steeplechaser
12. Jack Salisbury 26:11.0
13. Quinn Nicholsom 26:11.6
14. Maazin Ahmed 26:16.2
15. Eion Nohilly 26:20.7 I am always thinking that Eion can do better
16. Joshua Bell 26:20.8 it looks as if Josh was beaten in a sprint to the line by Eion
17. Tristan Forsythe 26:25.0
21. Dylan Scarsone 26:32.7
30. Reilly Bloomer 27:10.4 usually Reilly starts faster than today

[Nevada Hoya]

Write up on the PSU website:

The women's 6k race began the annual event. Kathryn Munks and Alison Willingmyre set the tone immediately following the starting gun. Munks and Willingmyre paced the pack through the first mile and a half of the race. Munks consistent pace allowed her to maintain her lead over the rest of the field.

Crossing the second mile mark, Munks began to exert her lead over the rest of the field. She continued to increase the size of her lead during the final portion of the race. Munks comfortably cruised to a final time of 20:42.3 to win the women's 6k race and won the race by over 11 seconds over the next finisher. Munks is the fifth consecutive Nittany Lion to win the Spiked Shoe individual title.

Alison Willingmyre finished third for the Nittany Lions with a time of 21:03.1. Danae Rivers (21:34.4), Jordan Williams (21:37.7) and Megan Ciasullo (21:47.5) each turned in top-20 performances for the Nittany Lions. Penn State finished second in the event with 41 points.

The write up has a "by the way" PSU finished 2nd. Can't even pay homage to the Hoyas; no mention of the Hoya women's finishing 1st.

[Nevada Hoya]

Coach Bonsey on the race today:

"I was really happy with the effort from our front three consisting of Spencer Brown, Ty Brownlow and Price Owens. They put themselves in a great position all race and hung tough over the very challenging last mile of the course. After that it was a mixed bag for us but I saw what we need to work on. We now head into a three-week training block headed into Notre Dame, so I'm excited to see how much we can improve during that time span. Adding in Nick Wareham, Jack Van Scoter, Matt Bouthillette and Rusty Kujdych at Notre Dame will help our team significantly."

I had forgotten about Rusty, but no word on Christian Liddell.

[Nevada Hoya]

Coach Culley on the race today:

"We are proud of the effort and execution of the women's team today. We put nine runners in the top 15 and showed great depth as a program. We are young with three sophomores and one freshman rounding out the top five, but it's easy to see how good this team is and will be in the next few years. Madeline ran a fantastic race and ran a personal best on that course by over 30 seconds and was a great low stick for us. Penn State is a top ranked team nationally and No. 1 in our region. It was a feather in our cap today, but the season is long and we have a lot of work ahead of us."

[Nevada Hoya]

pbs.twimg.com/media/EEXeVvCXsAAsy-H.jpg

[Nevada Hoya]

Waiting for the regional results today; national rankings will be tomorrow. See if the women rise from their 7th place regional ranking. I know they will rise, but how high. The men might fall today from their 3rd place ranking.

[Nevada Hoya]

Nothing changed in the Mid-Atlantic Region in Week 1 for the men.

Princeton and Villanova are still the favorites to earn the two automatic bids, just like they were in the preseason.

The rest of the top-5 is rounded out by Georgetown, Penn and Temple.

I guess they were taking into account that the Hoyas did not run four of their top runners.

[Nevada Hoya]

The women:

The top-two teams in the Mid-Atlantic Region stayed the same with No. 1 Penn State and No. 2 Princeton filling those spots.

Villanova remained at the No. 3 spot and will open up their season this weekend at the Main Line Invitational.

No. 4 Georgetown jumped into the top-5 after a winning the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational over regional leader Penn State.

No. 5 Penn dropped two spots down from the preseason poll to round out the top teams.

So the Hoyas jumped three places. At least they jumped over WVU, whom they beat this weekend. Not sure why PSU is still #1, probably did not run their full team or being an early meet, they did not put so much weight on this meet.

[Nevada Hoya]

From the Stride Report:

4. Georgetown Women Stun Penn State
The women of Georgetown took down Penn State at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe

Invitational this past weekend. Georgetown was led by Madeline Perez’s 2nd place finish while the next four Hoya women to cross the line were in the top eight.

What surprises me about Georgetown’s finish is that runners #2 through #5 consisted of three sophomores and one freshman. If these four youngsters can keep their composure in big races and finish close together, special things could happen for a Georgetown team that looks awfully similar to last year's Penn State squad. Scoring 25 points - 16 points fewer than the Nittany Lions - is a promising start to the season for Georgetown as they work to return to NCAA's after missing out on the meet last fall.

[Nevada Hoya]

The women, while still not in the top 30, garned some points (11) this week. Meanwhile PSU fell two ranking spots. Meanwhile the Hoyas in 39th place are just ahead of California Baptist (who???).

The men are still out of the voting with no points.

[Nevada Hoya]

Graduate students Spencer Brown and Madeline Perez of the Georgetown University cross country teams were named as the BIG EAST Cross Country Male and Female Athletes of the Week, announced on Tuesday afternoon. Brown and Perez were recognized for their performances at the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational this past Friday.

Congratulations to both Spencer and Madeline.