Cross Country team falters at NCAA's

The team finished out its last competitive race yesterday at the 2003 NCAA National Cross Country Championships at the University of Northern Iowa. After taking 23rd place with 510 points, only two spots better than last year's, and the squad was disappointed.

"We didn't have our best day," Penn State women's cross country coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "We just didn't put together the performance we were hoping for.

The squad met with some tough opposition from competitors and Mother Nature. It was an unpleasant rainy day in Iowa with a temperature of only 15 degrees and a wind chill below zero.

Stanford University, favored from the start, won the event with 120 points. This was not necessarily a surprise to Penn State, however, the stellar racing from teams like Michigan State (4th) and UCLA (7th), who the Nittany Lions were looking to compete with, were.

Despite the unsatisfactory final position Alford-Sullivan felt that the individual performances from Penn State members were something she could be proud of. She was especially pleased with junior Molly Landreth's composure after taking a fall in the early stages of the race. Landreth battled her way back from the end of the pack and ended up finishing in 42nd place in a time 20:55.9.

In only a few words Landreth summed up her day.

"Very hard," said Landreth with a laugh. "It was hard and difficult."

Her teammates, senior Maureen Thomas (103rd), sophomore Jenny Stevens (114th), and junior Michelle Wale (116th) followed one after another until the end.

Senior Tara Johnson (135th) was not far behind rounding out the top five for Penn State. Junior Chelsea Lenge (173) and sophomore Tracey Brauksieck (186) competed for the Nittany Lions as well. So for the Penn State women's squad the season is now over though it will compete in December at the Blue and White exhibition race. The team is ready for a break but is not happy about ending such a solid season negatively.