Posted: Aug 14, 2020
The 2004 Penn State Behrend women’s cross country team were unanimously chosen before the season to win their second conference title and they did just that. The Lions edged out nine other AMCC teams with a low score of 19 to win the league championship held at Frostburg State University.
Hall of Fame inductee Jessica Knapp, who won every single race for Behrend during the regular season, won her third AMCC Individual Title with a time of 25:01. Teammate Leslie Gentile was the runner up at the conference meet with a time of 25:57. Behrend had two other runners in the Top 10 in Claire Manelick (fifth – 27:09) and Willa Paterson (sixth – 27:39). These four ladies were selected to the All-Conference Team, while Knapp earned AMCC Runner of the Year.
The Lions completed their banner season with a 13th place finish out of 35 teams at the NCAA Mideast Regional Meet held at Allegheny. Knapp was the first to cross the finish line for Behrend, covering the 6K course in 22:33. Her performance placed her seventh among 259 runners, earning her a spot on the All-Mideast Region Team along with Gentile. She finished 29th with a time of 23:42.