NEW CASTLE, Penn. – Highlighted by junior Matthew Mangus' first-place individual finish in the men's 8000m race to help lead the men's team to a first-place team-outing, a portion of the Youngstown State men's and women's cross country programs logged successful outings on Saturday afternoon at the Slippery Rock Bill Lennox Invitational in New Castle, Penn.
The annual races took place at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds cross country course.
Leading the men's squad which scored 26 team-points, Matthew Mangus finished with a time of 26:09, 13 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Behind Mangus, the Penguins' male runners grabbed three additional top-6 finishes, excluding two more inside the top-20.
Following Mangus, junior Luke Baun secured the third-place nod with a time of 26:30. Sophomore Chase Stewart acted as the next YSU finisher, clocking a 26:42 to earn the team its third top-5 finish of the day.
Coming across the line at 26:50, freshman Jack Aulbach earned a sixth-place finish, sophomore Riley Jackson was 11th with a time of 27:08, and senior C.J. Schumacher was 18th, posting a 27:41. Rounding out the Youngstown State scoring fleet, junior Chase Harbaugh clocked a 29:27 to finish in 34th.
The men's race featured 69 competitors.
The YSU women logged six top-28 finishes in a field of 75 runners, including three top-15 finishes to accumulate a team score of 73. Junior Hailey Zelinsky acted as the top Penguins' finisher with a time of 23:14 en route to her fourth-place individual effort on the day.
Behind Zelinsky, a pair of freshman in Aurora Fares and Aiamyia Dudley finished 12th and 13th with times of 24:11 and 24:18, respectively. Next, senior Lauren Dolak was 21st, posting a time of 24:57. Closing out the top-6 scoring times for the Penguins, Caylee Mackey clocked a 25:10 for a 23rd-place effort and Emma Hunkus recorded a 25:42 to cross the finish in 28th.
Both men's and women's programs are slated to return to competition on Friday, Oct. 15 when the Penguins divide and conquer and make their way to State College, Pennsylvania, for the Penn State National Open and to Tallahassee, Florida, for the Florida State Invitational for the program's final tune-up prior to the conference meet.
For complete coverage of Youngstown State cross country, follow @YSUTrackFieldXC on Twitter.
