George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
Penn State National Invitational
Hogan and Stevenson Continue to Excel at Penn State Invite
10/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track/Cross Country
Oct. 18, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA -
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - Redshirt sophomore Megan Hogan and senior Collin Stevenson continued to shine on Friday as both recorded strong times in the Penn State Invitational in University Park, PA. Hogan faced off against four nationally ranked teams and finished with a time of 21:06, which was 30 seconds off of her personal best on a very challenging course.
Stevenson ran with some of the best runners in the region and ran the Penn State course, which was 5.3 miles, a little longer than some of the other races. His time was a 24.40 pace for the 8k and was one of five male runners to run personal bests on the men's side.
Head Coach Brian Beil was very pleased with the men's effort. "The team score isn't where we'd like it," said Beil. "Obviously, but individually everyone is coming around. Today Collin was racing exactly where he belongs; with some of the best runners in the region. We're still four weeks out from the Mid-Atlantic Regional, so we know that today was only the beginning of our run toward the championship races. Being 100% healthy really for the first time in four years, Collin had his breakthrough performance today, and the rest of the guys on the team who have been doing the workouts right beside all year are ready to do the same in two weeks.
Also on the women's side, Jessica Stern and Emily Foster also set person records in the very accomplished day for the group. The course at Penn State was very challenge and ran tough, but the team was able to stay in and finish with respectable times.
"We sat out our #2 runner, said Beil. "We came into today looking more for the individual performances than the team score. With that in mind, we bounced back well from Paul Short two weeks ago. The ladies are hitting their stride at just the right time and should continue to improve in the coming weeks at our championship races. The loss of GW's most decorated runner in Audrey Noonan has been a tough thing to deal with this year, but the ladies are stepping up in her absence and are looking forward to the challenge awaiting them in Charlotte in two weeks. I'm proud of the way our team went out early in the race and really put themselves in the thick of things. If we can do that again in two weeks, I like our chances.
The Colonials cross country teams will now have two weeks off as they prepare for the A-10 Championships on November 1st. This year's site will be in Charlotte, NC on the campus of UNC-Charlotte. The races are expected to begin at 10:00 am. EST
Players Mentioned
