Penn College Men Claim Eighth-Straight Conference Cross-Country Crown
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Saturday was golden for the Penn College men's cross-country team in more ways than one. First, the Wildcats won their eighth straight conference championship. Second, freshman Jake Shedden (Canton) won the individual 5.38-mile race in 30 minutes, 49 seconds. And third, they gave 11th-year coach Mike Paulhamus his 300th career coaching victory (his record now is 303-153-2 overall and 166-6 in Penn State University Athletic Conference meets).
The Penn College men finished with 21 points, followed byPenn StateScranton with 51, Penn State Lehigh Valley with 67 and Penn State Brandywine with 103.
Individually for Penn College, behind Shedden, Travis Cain (Bloomsburg) was second in 32:10, Seth Beckman (Linden) was fifth in 33:19, Corvin Oberholtzer (Wellsboro) was 10th in 34:25 and Ed Knyff (Ocean Gate, N.J.) was 12th in 34:55. "All of the kids ran strong. We had a good week of practice and it carried into the meet. Everybody was happy with their times. We were pretty strong," Paulhamus said of the meet run at Penn State Mont Alto. "The guys did an excellent job. They've done it all season."
With only two women runners, Penn College was unable to compete as a team; however, senior Tamara Pavlov (Lewisburg) finished second overall in 20:19 over a 2.99-mile course, just missing first place by three seconds. Also for the Lady Wildcats, Shannon Abercrombie (Roaring Branch) was eighth in 22:16.
"I hope we have a good practice this week to get ready for the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Championships (Nov. 5 in Concord, N.H.). I don't know if we'll be No. 1 or No. 2 this year, but we're pretty competitive and we'll be, hopefully, in the top five," Paulhamus said.