Everything continued to fall into place for the Penn men's cross-country team this weekend as they finished a solid fourth at the Paul Short Invitational.
The Quakers managed to knock off Columbia, who was fourth in their region, and Michigan State, who received votes in the latest national poll, at the 33-team event on Saturday.
The race, held at Lehigh, was characterized by a sloppy track and damp conditions, but times for the 8K event were still remarkably quick.
"We had quite a few guys fall, but that's part of cross-country," Penn coach Charlie Powell said.
Junior Nolan Tully took first for the Quakers and 13th overall with a time of 24:50.34, yet Powell was not extremely impressed by his performance.
"Nolan ran a good front race," Powell said. "But, he can do a lot better -- he knows it, I know it."
Penn had a second top-20 finisher in junior Stephen Hayes, who took 18th with a time of 25:58.44. It was the middle part of the lineup, however, that helped to solidify the Red and Blue's fourth-place finish. The third through seventh runners were able to stay in a pack for a majority of the race, with third through fifth finishing consecutively.
"Coach has been really stressing us to run as a pack because we're all pretty equal," junior Matt Van Antwerp said. "It's easy to lose it mentally in the middle of the race and when you got four other guys pulling you along, it really stops you from falling asleep."
Junior George Weiner and Van Antwerp finished third and fourth for the Quakers and 38th and 39th overall, with times of 25:21.38 and 25:22.33, respectively. Freshman Troy Werner finished one place behind the junior duo, clocking in at 25:22.55.
The trio passed a pack of five runners in the last 400 meters. This move secured the Quakers' fourth-place finish, 14 points ahead of Columbia.
"I just took the tethers off them and let them race," Powell said. "The other races we've run very pattern races. We just let them go, turned them loose. It's about that time, we've got to start running some fast races."
Penn now must look towards pre-nationals in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and the Penn State Open at State College, Pa., both of which are being held on Oct. 18. The Quakers don't plan on changing their game plan for those meets.
"The pack worked out really well and that's going to be our key to success," Van Antwerp said.
Powell is just as optimistic, especially following the Quakers' strong performances in the beginning of the season.
"We're doing some very good things and we want to leave it right there," Powell said. "Just keep it rolling -- that's all we want to do."
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