Men Take 9th at Penn State Meet

Friday, October 12

University Park, Pa.

10:45 AM

Dartmouth College

Penn State National Invitational

Photo by: Doug Austin

10/12/2018 1:22:00 PM | Men's Cross Country

Pat O'Brien Finishes 30th to lead Big Green on 5.2-mile course.

By: Pat Salvas

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Dartmouth men's cross country team took ninth place at Penn State's National Open Friday morning.

Running on an unusual 5.2-mile course at the Blue-White Golf Course, the Big Green posted 245 points. Virginia claimed the top spot with 61 points, while Eastern Kentucky was second with 77. Dartmouth edged out the host Nittany Lions, who were 10th with 252 points on their home course.

The Green and White ran a tight race as just 34 places separated the team's five scoring runners.

Leading the pack was sophomore Pat O'Brien in 30th, crossing the line with a time of 25:40. Not far back was junior Quinn Cooney in 25:42 to claim 33rd.

Marco Pompilj (58th, 26:01), Owen Ritz (60th, 26:03) and Henry Raymond (64th, 26:05) were the next small grouping of Big Green harriers and closed out the scoring on this day. Benjamin Matejka (73rd, 26:09) and Sander Kushen (87th, 26:18) missed out on picking up points, but were close as they finished as the team's sixth and seventh runners, respectively.

Twenty-one teams and 206 individuals took part on the 5.2-mile race.

The team is back in action next week at Central Connecticut's Short Course meet on Friday.