STATE COLLEGE, PA., SEPT. 13, 2003 - The No. 21 Penn State women¡¯s cross country team opened the season with a dominating victory in the Spiked Shoe Meet, also hosted by them, earning a perfect score of 15 points and far outdistancing second place team Duquesne who scored 102 points. Youngstown State took third with a score of 111 points. The perfect score was Head Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan¡¯s first.

¡°I couldn¡¯t be more proud of everybody. It was just an incredible feeling to run with your teammates right with you,¡± said senior captain Maureen Thomas.

The Nittany Lions also finished with 10 of their runners in the top 15 and swept the top eight places. ¡°To go eight strong, it¡¯s above and beyond,¡± said senior captain Katy Hillard.

Junior Molly Landreth, coming off an outdoor track season which saw her named an All-American, won the race with a time of 21:19.67. This is Landreth¡¯s first Spiked Shoe victory.

Junior Chelsea Lenge came in second (21:46.64), senior Katy Hillard placed third (21:46.96) and junior Maureen Thomas was fourth (21:47.19) all appearing to cross the finish line at almost the same exact time.

Penn State¡¯s top returning runner and last year¡¯s Spiked Shoe Champion, sophomore Tracey Brauksieck, was fifth with a time of 21:56.96.

Finishing out the top eight for Penn State was sophomore Jenny Stevens placing sixth, senior Tara Johnson taking seventh and junior Kayla Matrunik finishing eighth.

Next up for the women harriers is the Elizabethtown Invitational on Sept 20. The meet is set to begin at 11:30 a.m.