Cross Country Travels To Florida For National Championship Meet

MEDIA, Pennsylvania -- Penn State Brandywine's women's cross country team will compete at the national level for the second consecutive season, while three members of the Lions' men's team will run for the national title at the USCAA Cross Country Championships, which take place in Lakeland, Fla., on Friday morning.

The women's 6K race begins Friday at 10:00 am and the men's 8K race will commence one hour later. Both races will take place at the Holloway Park and Nature Reserve in Lakeland.

Brandywine's women's team claimed its first-ever Penn State University Athletic Conference championship on Oct. 17 to earn its spot in the national championship meet. Four of the Lions' runners earned all-conference recognition for their performances at the PSUAC Championship, including three who win compete at the USCAA race. Robyn Gannon was a first team all-PSUAC, while Jessica Powers and Amanda Isenberger both ran to second team accolades.

Powers and Jessica Maginnis both competed for Brandywine at last year's national championship. Each will be looking to improve on their times from 2014 when Powers placed 86th and Maginnis ran to 122nd. Overall, Brandywine took 11th as a team.

Prior to 2015, only three Brandywine men had ever qualified for the national meet. That number will double when Sam Houlette, John Li and Alex Rivera-Santiago take to the course on Friday. All three finished in the top seven at the PSUAC Championship to earn their spot at the USCAA Championship.

Rivera-Santiago is a two-time national qualifier after finishing 106th in 2014. He garnered first team all-conference accolades along with Li, while Houlette was a second team all-PSUAC runner.

Li has been the top runner for the Brandywine men all season and broke the school 8K record with a time of 30:00 at the Lions' home meet earlier this season. Gannon set a program 6K record in her last race by finishing the PSUAC Championship in a time of 27:32.

Florida College will serve as the host school for the USCAA Championships.