South Bend, Ind. - Hunter Christopher broke the five-mile school record in an impressive performance by the Youngstown State men's and women's cross country programs at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational on Friday.
Christopher crossed the finish line in a record-time of 23:50.5 in a historic race for the Penguin men. YSU was invited to compete in the five-mile blue race for the first time since 1995 and just the second time in school history.
Christopher broke his previous school record of 24:13 by over 20 seconds as he became the first runner in school history to run sub-24 minutes in the five-mile race.
Ryan Meadows was the next Penguin across the line, clocking a 24:32.3 for 60th place. Also in the top-100 was Thomas Caputo who placed 96th with a time of 25:01.1.
Tyler Clark ran a time of 25:16.3 in his 109th-place finish while Tobias Jones rounded out the Penguins' scoring effort with a time of 25:20.0 for 113th.
The men finished 16th overall with 379 points. Notre Dame, ranked ninth nationally, earned the Blue Race victory with 87 points while Florida State was close behind in second with 95 points.
In addition, some members of the men's cross country team competed in the men's five-mile open race. Sage Vavro led the Penguins in the open with a time of 25:29.1 for 19th.
In the women's 5k gold race, Morgan Cole impressed with a fourth-place finish, clocking a time of 17:09.5.
Alyssa Deeds crossed the line next for the Penguins with a time of 18:16.8 for 38th place. Hannah Wagner then finished 103rd, clocking a 19:21.4.
Malena Cybak was 109th with a time of 19:30.8 while Grace Rhoades rounded out the Penguins' scoring effort in 110th place with a time of 19:32.1.
The women finished 13th overall with 336 points. Akron won the gold race with 115 points while Richmond finished in second with 123 points.
The Penguins are next in action on October 7 as they compete at the Bill Lennox Slippery Rock Invitational. The women's 6k is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. following by the men's 8k at 11:15 a.m. at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds in New Castle, Pa.
