Twenty-one runners crossed the Penn State Blue Course finish line and more than 1:30 passed between the time Katie Jazwinski of the victorious Michigan cross country team seized personal victory and the time the first Penn State runner, Erin Davis, crossed the line at Saturday's Spiked Shoe Invitational.

The Penn State women's cross country team finished a somewhat disappointing sixth in their opening race, failing to finish first at the Spiked Shoe for the second consecutive year after 15 straight victories.

Though the results would seem to make it a discouraging day for the Lady Lions, Penn State coach Beth Alford-Sullivan was not concerned. She was concerned, however, with getting her runners accustomed to a race atmosphere and getting them to run a smart race.

"I felt that our athletes ran a very good race today," Alford-Sullivan said. "They showed a lot of patience and a lot of confidence. They did a lot of things we worked on. I was very proud and very happy with the way the team ran today."

Alford-Sullivan's runners also took a lot of positives out of Saturday's race.

"I think we did awesome," senior Shelly Brand said. "Of all the teams I've seen here, so far, this is the best team I've been on. We have a lot of work to do, but I'm very happy how we ran today."

Davis' 22nd place finish (22:14) over the 6,000-meter course led Penn State. Brand was the next Lady Lion to cross with a time of 22:40, good for 32nd overall. Freshman Beth Sharkey was Penn State's third finisher, taking 35th place with a time of 22:43, followed by junior Kim DeNovellis, who finished in 41st overall with a time of 22:49. Junior Stacie Bouchard (48th) and freshman Lauren Clark (49th) rounded out the Penn State finishers. Penn State captains Susanne Heyer and Beth Buchheit both sat out the race.

"The last three weeks have been very tough training wise," Davis said. "She (Alford-Sullivan) told us to go out here and have control, to see what we could do. She emphasized relaxing, getting into the competition, not going out too hard, staying relaxed the first mile and running together."

Michigan's Jazwinski cruised past all challengers in the Spiked Shoe field. The All-American crossed the finish line nearly 24 seconds before second-place finisher Sonja Shedden of Central Florida.

"I just wanted to be relaxed and go with whoever was leading," Jazwinski said. "That was the main point of this race — just to stay relaxed. I felt like the pace was slowing down a bit, and I decided to go for it."

Michigan placed three runners in the top 10 and five in the top 20, winning the race easily with 52 points. West Virginia finished second with 86 points, followed by James Madison with 112 points and Bucknell with 115 points. St. Joseph's nipped Penn State for fifth place with 165 points to the Lady Lions' 167.

The Lady Lions' next race will be the William & Mary Invitational, held Saturday in Williamsburg, Va.