State College, Pa., Nov. 13, 2004 - The Penn State women¡¯s cross country team finished fifth today at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic regional meet, hosted by Penn State. The women scored a total of 114 points, just two points shy of the No. 24 ranked Georgetown who finished fourth. No. 28 ranked West Virginia took first place with 63 points, No. 14 ranked Villanova finished second with 68 points and No. 20 ranked Princeton finished third with 83 points.

Senior Maureen McCandless from the University of Pittsburgh took first place in a time of 20:26. Sophomore Keira Carlstrom from American took second place in a time of 20:37 and junior Marina Muncan from Villanova took third place in a time of 20:42.

Senior All-Big Ten and All-Region Molly Landreth (Newburyport, Mass.) finished 11th with a time of 21:29. She has the potential to qualify for the NCAA Championships if Georgetown is offered an at-large selection bid. Landreth is Penn State¡¯s top runner and has been named Big Ten Cross Country Athlete of the Week four times in her career.

Rounding out the top 20 for Penn State was seinor Kayla Matrunick (Latrobe, Pa.) who finished 19th (21:51). The other top seven finishers for Penn State was junior Tracey Brauksieck (Homer, N.Y.) finished 21st (21:52), senior Jenny Stevens (Hookset, Nh.) finished 27th (22:11), freshman Nikki Bohnsack (Rockford, Mich.) finished 40th (22:32), senior Lindsay Scottoline (Glenolden, Pa.) finished 52nd (22:46) and senior Chelsea Lenge (West Hartford, Conn.) finished 88th (23:44).

¡°Penn State did a great job hosting the race and the championship atmosphere was awesome. I was really proud to be a part of the institution that put on a great NCAA Championship race. We raced the best we raced all year. This is one of the teams that I am most proud of since I have been at Penn State, they came together and put it out there today,¡± said Head Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan.

The top two teams, West Virginia and Villanova, automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships to be held on Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Indiana. Teams can then be chosen as at-large selections based on their season records. The top four women who placed in the top 15 in the Regional meet and are not on one of the teams that have automatically qualified or have been chosen at-large are then also selected to compete in the Championships.