The Penn State women's cross country team had its best finish in a meet so far this year with a third place finish in the Lock Haven Invitational this past weekend, despite sending only those runners not on the usual travel squad.

The squad that was essentially a junior-varsity team stuck to the script for Saturday's meet. Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan wanted the team to get experience running in groups and running as a team, and they did exactly that.

With all five scorers within 45 seconds of each other, the Nittany Lions were prime examples of team racing.

"We tried to hold them to a race plan that was similar to what we have been," coach Alford-Sullivan said.

"We wanted them to come out and run together, and they did a very good job with that.

"I think it was a great experience for this team to come out an run a 6K on the road, and their success was a nice surprise," she said.

Freshman Jen Maline was the Nittany Lions' first finisher, coming in at 16th place, followed by a close-knit pack of Lions. Freshman Chloe Murdock finished 24th, followed by freshman Michelle Nash at 25th, and freshman Shauna Koenig at 26th.

The opposition managed to cross only two more runners in the race before junior Krista Gahagen came in 29th place to round out the scorers for Penn State.

Maline crossed the finish line just 15 seconds before the rest of the pack, and all of the runners in that group finished within 10 seconds of each other.

"We all did what we were supposed to do," said Murdock.

"We all packed it up, and we worked very well together.

"We usually work well together in practice and that helped a lot in this meet."

Maline, who came to Penn State after winning a Pennsylvania state championship in the 800 meters, is more known for her abilities on the track.

Coach Alford-Sullivan, whose duties also include head coach of the women's track team, said that her showings in cross-country this season bode well for the track season.

"Training for cross-country here is certainly a step up from what she's used to," Alford Sullivan said.

"She's responding very well and competing well, and that will give her a lot of stamina to last through a track and field season,"Alford-Sullivan said.

Bucknell and Shippensburg were the two teams that finished ahead of Penn State in the team standings.

Bucknell is a powerful Div. I team that will compete against Penn State in the NCAA Regional championships, but did not put its "A" squad in for Saturday's race. Shippensburg closely defeated the Nittany Lions as well.

"I expected Bucknell to run away with this," Alford Sullivan said.

"They are annually a tough national team, and there was no team at this meet that could hang with them when they have all of their runners.

"However, the purpose for today's meet was to get these runners some experience, and to get them to run a good race. "They accomplished that, and I was very pleased with how they did,"Alford-Sullivan said.

"It was a great experience for us to get a 6K under our belts," said Murdock.

"Hopefully we'll be able to improve for the next meet with everyone racing," Murdock said.

The Lions' next meet will be the National Invitational this Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Penn State Blue Course.