West Virginia University and Asselin win National Open

Marie-Louise Asselin

Results: http://www.msnsportsnet.com/content/xcresults-101207.pdf

 by Nathaniel Zinn for MSNsportsNET.com
October 12, 2007

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 21 West Virginia University cross country team had three top 10 finishers and won the 6K race at the Penn State National Open today in University Park, Pa.

WVU sophomore Marie-Louise Asselin won the 25-team, 278-competitor race with a time of 20:46. It was her second top-three finish of the season in as many races. Fellow sophomores Keri Bland (20:56) and Clara Grandt (21:17) took fourth and seventh, respectively.

West Virginia had 86 points in first, host Penn State was second with 110 points and Kentucky was third with 127 points. Defending champion Syracuse was fourth (128), Wake Forest was fifth (173) and No. 17 Duke was sixth (185).

“Our top three runners continue to impress us thus far,” Head Coach Sean Cleary says. “We took a risk this week and trained harder than we had in the past for a big meet like this, fortunately it worked out well for us.”

Freshmen Kate Harrison and Kaylyn Christopher were the final Mountaineer competitors to count towards the team score. Harrison crossed in 21:57 for 36th place, while Christopher finished at 21:58 for 38th place.

Other Mountaineer runners in the lineup were sophomores Maria Dalzot and Mandy McBean. Dalzot finished in 22:54 for 86th place and McBean ended in 23:15 for 97th place.

West Virginia returns to action on Oct. 19, at the Golden Flash Invitational hosted by Kent State in Kent, Ohio.