HUMMELSTOWN, Pa. – Penn State Harrisburg played host to its annual fall invitational held at Shank Park in Hummelstown, Pa. on Friday, Sep. 28.  Thanks to strong overall performances from runners on both the men's and women's teams, the blue and white was well-represented among the top ten individual finishers.  The men's strength in depth led to a runner-up finish behind team champion Penn St. Abington.  The ladies nabbed third place, trailing team champ Lancaster Bible and Penn State Abington.

The men were led by the squad's latest addition Tyler Fry (Harrisburg, Pa. / Central Dauphin East).  With no organized team practice under his belt, the newcomer finished sixth overall with a time of 30:09.  Fry's long-time pal Kyle Klaboe (Harrisburg, Pa. / Central Dauphin East) was also strong and ended up ninth with a time of 30:48.  Edgar Makimoto (Middleburg, Pa. / Selinsgrove Area) was the Lions' third top ten finisher thanks to a time of 31:08.

Brian Parsons (Hummelstown, Pa. / Hershey) finished strong by passing a Penn State Abington runner in the race's final 25 yards to nab 12th place.  Jordan Fuhrman (Columbia, Pa. / Hempfield) and Adam Campbell (Columbia, Pa. / Hempfield) recorded 14th and 17th place finishes, respectively. 

Brandon Da Camara, Jeremy Booker and Lucas Boerman wrapped up the 19-21 slots while Josh Torres and David Venturo rounded out Penn State Harrisburg's finishers.  Lions' Head Coach Dan Barlet has been extremely impressed with his team's effort through the first three outings.

"It's evident that our guys are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were last year," he said.  "We're only a couple of races in and if we continue to get better I believe we're going to make some noise at the conference meet.  I couldn't be happier."

The women were none too shabby either.  The blue and white were led by Hannah Jorich (Middletown, Pa. / Middletown Area) and Alisha House (Crownpoint, N.M. / Thoreau).  Jorich picked up an eighth place finish, her best of the season, thanks to her time of 26:41 while House was solid once again and clocked in one spot behind her teammate with a time of 26:58.

Rosanny Reyes (Harrisburg, Pa. / Central Dauphin East) and Haldis Zhang (Nanjing, Tiansu) secured back-to-back finishes in 12th and 13th, respectively.  Katryna Stegmeier (Nesquehoning, Pa. / Tamaqua Area) and AnneMarie Prozillo (Lancaster, Pa. / Conestoga Valley) rounded out the Lions' runners, pushing each other to nearly side-by-side finishes of 20th and 21st.

Barlet was very happy with the efforts put forth by his women.  With only eight runners on the team depth has been hard to come by.  Despite the lack of numbers, his girls have done everything asked of them to this point in the fall.

"I'd say our girls are more improved compared to last year as well," said the coach.  "They all work so hard so it's good to see the results like we did today.  Last year we struggled to field five runners.  This year we have multiple top ten finishers."

With the success of the program's home invitational now behind them, the Lions hope to keep the momentum rolling next week when Penn State Harrisburg takes part in the Goldey-Beacom College Invitational on Friday, Oct. 5.