The William & Mary women's cross country team had its best race of the season on Friday morning at the Penn State National Open, moving up strongly over the second half of the race to finish seventh overall in the 16-team field, upsetting several regionally-ranked teams in the process.  Host and No. 30-ranked Penn State won the event with 31 points, with Georgia Tech taking second with 63 and Tennessee third with 92 points.  Individually, Kathryn Munks won the 6K race for the Nittany Lions, running 20:13.0.

How it Happened
- At the two-mile mark, little more than halfway through the race, the Tribe was in ninth place, but strong running over the back half of the course moved W&M up two spots in the team standings and 46 points overall, both the biggest improvement of any team in the race.  Overall, the Tribe's runners improved an average of nearly 25 seconds each over their performances from three weeks ago, a very positive trend as championship races start over the next few weeks.
- Leading the way for the third race in a row was redshirt-junior Liv Paxton (Rock Hill, S.C.), running a personal-best 21:27.1 and finishing 26th overall, one spot ahead of junior Lauren Finikiotis (Gibsonia, Pa.) who crossed the line in another personal-best 21:29.0.
- Freshman Emma Rogers (Roanoke, Va.) moved up nine spots over the back half of the race, and was 36th overall in 21:35.2.
- Senior Charlotte Kowalk (Ijamsville, Md.) was making her season debut, and showed her speed and race savvy, moving up an astonishing 43 spots over the last two miles to finish 58th overall in 22:03.7.  That was the biggest move any runner from any school made in the back half of the race.
- The second-biggest improvement of any runner was 30 spots, and also belonged to the Green and Gold as grad student Rachel Snyder (Purcellville, Va.) finished out the team's scoring in 86th overall with a time of 22:30.1.
- Redshirt-sophomore Taylor D. Jones (Virginia Beach, Va.) registered a 17-spot improvement herself to finish in 93rd place at 22:38.6, and her classmate Megan Kolbe (Doylestown, Pa.) rounded out the varsity seven in 129th overall, crossing the finish in 23:22.8.

Up Next
William & Mary has next weekend off, and will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 2, chasing its 24th Colonial Athletic Association Championship and seventh in the past eight years.  The CAA Championships will be hosted by James Madison at the New Market Battlefield State Park, and will begin at 10 a.m.

Penn State National Open - 6K
Penn State University Golf Course - State College, Pa.

Team Standings
1. #30 Penn State 31
2. Georgia Tech 63
3. RV Tennessee 92
4. RV Princeton 116
5. #23 Penn 131
6. Temple 181
7. William & Mary 216
8. Maryland 221
9. Bucknell 249
10. Lehigh 261
11. Akron 280
12. Youngstown State 315
13. James Madison 339
14. Saint Joseph's 359
15. Buffalo 386
16. Kent State 422

Top Five Runners
1. Kathryn Munks (PSU) 20:13.0
2. Amy Cashin (UNAT) 20:25.2
3. Katie Thronson (UT) 20:26.0
4. Nicole Fegans (GT) 20:31.4
5. Julia Paternain (PSU) 20:42.8

W&M Runners
26. Liv Paxton 21:27.1
27. Lauren Finikiotis 21:29.0
36. Emma Rogers 21:35.2
58. Charlotte Kowalk 22:03.7
86. Rachel Snyder 22:30.1
93. Taylor D. Jones 22:38.6
129. Megan Kolbe 23:22.8
131. Deirdre Lewin 23:23.7
145. Hope Stephens 23:49.2
147. Julia Lambert 23:53.5
157. Megan Dougherty 24:24.7