ABINGTON, Pa. – Penn State Harrisburg's cross country season is now officially underway.  On Saturday, Sep. 15, both the men's and women's teams traveled to the Penn State Abington Invitational for the program's first outing of the fall.  With gutsy performances turned in from members of both squads, the Lions can be very proud of their respectable finishes of 7th of 9 teams for the men and 7th of 8 teams for the women.  The blue and white were paced by Alisha House (Crownpoint, N.M. / Thoreau).  The junior's 16th place finish was the highest of any Penn State Harrisburg runner.

House's time of 28:10 earned her recognition amongst the top performers of the event.  Teammates Katelin Wilson (Long Pond, Pa. / Pocono Mountain West) and Katryna Stegmeir finished with times of 33:54 and 34:04, good enough for 36th and 37th overall, respectively.  Yamin Lin finished in 39th place with a time of 35:23 while AnneMarie Prozillo (Lancaster, Pa. / Conestoga Valley) rounded out the ladies finishers with a time 38:53, good enough to secure her a 46th place finish.

Freshman newcomer Kyle Klaboe was the top finisher for the blue and white's men's team with a time 34:32, good enough for 25th overall. Both Edgar Makimoto (Middleburg, Pa. / Selinsgrove Area) and Brian Parsons (Hummelstown, Pa. / Hershey) finished the race in less than 36 minutes and secured 30th and 34th place slots, respectively.  Freshman Lucas Boerman's (Mohnton, Pa. / Twin Valley) 37 minute pace was good enough for 37th place and John Pierre's (Lancaster, Pa.) 37:22 rounded out the Lions' top five in 41st place.  Adam Campbell (Columbia, Pa. / Hempfield) and Jordan Furman (Columbia, Pa. / Hempfield) ended up just outside the team's top five runners.

Penn State Harrisburg Head Coach Dan Barlet was pleased with team's initial effort, especially considering most of his squad's competition had an extra race under their belts. 

"I was very impressed with our girls," he said.  "All five of them finished when we needed them to and I think they'll only continue to get better."

"Our guys did well under the circumstances," he continued.  "Kyle obviously wasn't 100 percent and we were missing some of our men today.  Once we get everyone where we need to be I fully expect us to compete consistently."

The Lions next outing comes next Saturday, Sep. 22 at Lancaster Bible's Charger Invitational.  The meet gets underway at 9 a.m.