SOUTH BEND, IND., OCT. 3, 2003 - The No. 17 ranked Penn State womenĄŻs cross country team took third place in the biggest race of the season yet. The Adidas Notre Dame Invitational provided some of the top competition in the nation and the Nittany Lions proved they could be a competitive force. Notre Dame, ranked No. 2, won the meet with a score of 73 points, No. 20 ranked Wake Forest was second (105) and No. 17 Penn State was third (134). Rounding out the top five was Duke (140) at fourth and Vanderbilt (163) at fifth. The only other ranked team in the race, No. 25 Washington, took sixth place with a total of 180 points. Junior Molly Landreth (Newburyport, Mass.) turned in a stellar fourth place finish out of 160 runners. Her time of 17:38 for the 5K course was only 26 seconds behind first place runner Molly Huddle (17:12) of Notre Dame. Landreth has led the Nittany Lions in every race this season so far and continues to be competitive among national competition. Both senior co-captains were the next Nittany Lions across the line. Maureen Thomas (Bethlehem, Pa.) was 26th (18:07) and Katy Hillard (Turbotville, Pa.) took 28th (18:09). Sophomore Jenny Stevens (Hookset, N.H.) was 37th (18:18), junior Chelsea Lenge (West Hartford, Conn.) took 39th (18:20) and sophomore Tracey Brauksieck (Homer, N.Y.) was 42nd in a time of 18:27. Rounding out the placing for Penn State was senior Lauren Clark (Dublin, Ohio) at 50th (18:36) and senior Tara Johnson (Glenolden, Pa.) at 51st in a time of 18:37. The Penn State B team will be competing Sat., Oct. 4 at the Paul Short Run hosted by Lehigh University. The Nittany Lions have won the race the last two years. The meet is set to start at 11:00 a.m. The Nittany Lions are back home on Oct. 18 to host the Penn State National on the Blue/White Golf Course. The Nittany Lions took third at the meet last year. Race time is set for 10:00 a.m.
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