Dukes Finish Seventh at Penn State National Open

Friday, October 15

University Park, Pa.

10 a.m.

James Madison University

Penn State National Open

10/15/2021 3:11:00 PM | Cross Country

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – James Madison turned in a pair of top-50 individual finishes and placed seventh as a team at Penn State National Open on Friday morning at the PSU Cross Country Course.

Sophomore Miranda Stanhope highlighted the Dukes with a ninth-place finish after clocking a time of 21:13.7, as she competed with the top runners from Georgia Tech, Michigan and Northwestern throughout the race.

Dating back to 2008, Stanhope's time was JMU's second-fasted at the PSU meet, as she was just 0.7 seconds off Nora Raher's time in 2017.

Graduate student Brooke Manion crossed the line in 42nd place (41st scoring) with a time of 22:24.1, while junior Laura Webb registered a time of 22:34.7, good for 55th (53rd scoring).

The trio of juniors Jessica Cantrell and Clare Morelli and graduate student Caitlin Swanson finished the race within five seconds of each other. Cantrell was 81st (73rd scoring) in 22:56.3, Morelli took 83rd (75th scoring) in 23:00 and Swanson claimed 85th (77th scoring) with a time of 23:01.3

Junior Maddy Hesler rounded out the team scoring in 97th (85th scoring) after crossing the line in 23:12.0.

JMU sat in ninth place as a team down the stretch but passed both Rutgers and Syracuse over the final 1,200 meters to take seventh.

QUOTING COACH DAVE RINKER
"Our goal today was to finish top 10 with top eight being a really good finish, so seventh is excellent for us. They did a great job of following the race plan, which was to move over the last mile. We gained 13 places individually and two team places. Miranda is running exceptionally well, and we are closing the gap on her. We're really looking forward to CAA's later this month."

UP NEXT
The Dukes return to the course on Saturday, Oct. 30 for the 2021 Colonial Athletic Association Cross Country Championships, which will be hosted by Northeastern in Franklin Park, Mass.

Penn State National Open Results
6K Race (160 entries)
9th – Miranda Stanhope – 21:13.7
42nd – Brooke Manion – 22:24.1
55th – Laura Webb – 22:34.7
81st – Jessica Cantrell – 22:56.3
83rd – Clare Morelli – 23:00.0
85th – Caitlin Swanson – 23:01.3
97th – Maddy Hesler – 23:12.0
117th – McKenzi Watkins – 23:38.1
129th – Sinead Sargeant – 23:55.8
148th – Riley Schindel – 25:19.6
150th – Lanie Jo Knight – 25:41.8
153rd – Sierra Puleo – 26:23.5