Lions Compete at Dickinson Invitational

CARLISLE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's cross country team participated in the Dickinson Long and Short Invitational on Saturday morning.

The meet consisted of two races, an 8K and a 4K, with combined results for team standings.

In the long portion of the meet, Denis Lydon (Plum, PA/Plum) led the Lions with a 23^rd place finish.  Lydon finished the 8K in 27:12.0.  Jason Zabelsky (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) was the second Behrend runner to cross the finish line.  Zabelsky took 73^rd place with a time of 28:27.0.  Andrew Mason (Wilmington, DE/Concord) was close behind in 78^th place at 28:32.0. 

Tim Karls (Butler, PA/Bulter) and Cody Cornell (Conneaut Lake, PA/Conneaut Lake) rounded out the top-five for the Lions.  Karls took 88^th place at 30:01.0 with Cornell on his heels at 30:02.0 for 89^th place.

The long race had 233 totals runners with Behrend sitting in 14^th place.

In the short race, the Lions had four runners in the top-25.

Michael Smolinski (Wexford, PA/North Allegheny) paced Behrend with a 15^th place finish at 13:31.9.  Matt McWilliams (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) took 21^st with a time of 13:40.8.  Tyler Yost (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) and Josh Natalie (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy) were both close behind in 23^rd and 25^th place respectively.  Yost crossed the line at 13:44.5 with Natalie finishing in 13:50.2.  Devin Beggs (Franklin, PA/Franklin) closed out the top-five Lions in the short race with a time of 14:13.0 for 42 place.

After taking third in the short race, Behrend placed fifth out of 14 teams in the combined results.

The Lions will be back in action tomorrow at the Mt. Aloysius Invitational at 10:30 a.m.  Behrend will be preparing for the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) meet that will be hosted by Mt. Aloysius on October 27.