After a tough and somewhat disappointing season, a 14th place finish brought an end to the Penn State women's cross country team's 2005 season at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional at Lehigh University on Saturday. Penn State finished with a score of 380.

"I think we stepped up and competed with the competition and ran like we have been running all season," captain and fifth-year senior Kate Curran said.

Princeton took first place with a score of 64, followed by Villanova and Georgetown. Princeton senior Cack Ferrel won the 6,000-meter race in 19:58.3, well ahead of second-place finisher senior Merina Muncan of Villanova (20:13.2).

Penn State freshman Janelle Young was the top scorer of the day for the Nittany Lions taking a 58th place and finishing with a time of 22:13.7.

"Janelle has done a great job for us and has really stepped up as a freshman coming in and has run very well all season," Curran said.

Young was closely followed by sophomore Nikki Bohnsack who finished in 22:17.6 for a 60th place finish.

Next to cross the line was sophomore Sonja Hinish who finished in 78th place with a time of 22:32.5 while junior Kelly Chadwick (22:49.9) and captain Kate Curran (22:56.4) took 89th and 95th place respectively.

The top five finisher's time spread was within a minute of each other, a goal the team has worked for all season.

"I think we progressed through the season, and it's going to be great to watch this team grow and development in the next couple," Curran said.

Also running for the team were freshmen Claire Percival and Claire Berryman who finished 101st (23:06.7) and 129th (23:41.0).

Although the season was a fairly disappointing one, the team is young.

"Since the team is so young, with another year's experience, they'll be right there," Curran said.

The women's cross country program has much to look forward to in coming seasons with the group of talented athletes on roster now, and although it might have liked to perform better this season, it is a team to watch in coming years.

As its captain said: "There's going to be things that come to this team in the next couple of years."