It's not every day that the Penn women's cross-country team is mentioned in the same breath as national powers Georgetown, Tennessee, Penn State and Villanova. Saturday's Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University, however, was one of those days.
The Quakers battled ferociously with their nationally ranked counterparts, proving that they could not only compete with, but defeat with teams from the top echelon of women's collegiate cross-country.
Although the Red and Blue finished five points behind 13th-ranked Villanova, the Quakers edged out both 17th-ranked Penn State and Ivy League foe Cornell -- good enough for a sixth-place team finish in the competitive 32-team field.
"Beating Cornell was one of our goals going into the race," senior Emily Logan said. "It was really good for us as a team and I think we opened some eyes in the [Ivy] League."
Georgetown took first place at the meet, edging out West Virginia, James Madison, Tennessee and 'Nova in the 6K event. Behind the Quakers, Cornell, Penn State, Maryland and Navy rounded out the top 10.
Logan paced the Quakers' attack, finishing 20th overall with a time of 21:40.15. It was the third time in three races this season that Logan crossed the finish line first for the Quakers.
Fellow senior Elaina Lord was right behind her, finishing 26th in a meet which featured over 200 runners.
Freshmen Emily Buzzell and Jennifer Blank, running in the first high-profile meet of their young careers, came in next for the Quakers, placing 43rd and 64th overall, respectively.
"I was impressed, but not surprised," said Logan of the freshmen. "They have been doing that for us all year."
Rounding out Penn's scoring was sophomore Christine Myers, finishing 84th overall. Although the Quakers ran seven athletes, the competition only counted each school's top five runners towards the standings.
The Red and Blue's strategy of running together as a pack was put to the test against the large field. To combat this, coach Gwen Harris had her team work on running a faster first mile all week during practice. Harris' strategy certainly paid off during the race as the Quakers' top runners spent most of the afternoon at the front of the pack.
The Quakers hope to continue their momentum in familiar territory next week. The Red and Blue will head back to Newark, Del., site of their first-place finish on Sept. 20, for the Delaware Invitational. It will be their final tune-up before the Heptagonal Championships -- the race that decides the Ivy League crown -- on Oct. 31.
