Cross Country Travels to Illinois for Big Ten Championships – Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The start of the postseason for Penn State cross country is set to begin on Friday, November 1 in Champaign, Illinois with the Big Ten Cross Country Championships. The No. 24 women’s team will run in their 6K championship race at 11:35 a.m. and the men’s group will compete in their 8K championship shortly after, at 12:35 p.m.

THE BIG TEN CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Penn State will contend with the new-look Big Ten on Friday, as this will be the first conference championship meet to include conference newcomers Oregon, USC, UCLA, and Washington. The No. 24 Penn State women are one of five Big Ten women’s teams ranked in the top 25 by the latest USTFCCCA National Coaches Poll.

At last season’s conference championships in Wisconsin, both of Penn State’s cross country teams earned their highest team finishes since 2019. The women’s team placed fourth overall while the men’s squad took sixth place.

Maddie Ullom led the way for the women’s team in its 6K race, finishing in sixth place overall and earning First Team All-Big Ten honors. Her performance marked the second-straight year she finished atop the women’s team in the conference championship meet. Florence Caron finished second, placing 11^th overall, while Charlotte Costich finished 57^th overall, highlighting runners who returned to the Penn State roster in 2024.

As for the sixth-place men’s team, Brian DiCola finished the highest among Penn State returners, coming in 23^rd place. DiCola was followed by Hayden Healey and Ryan Watson, who finished 40^th and 43^rd, respectively.

PENN STATE OUTLOOK

Entering this postseason slate, Penn State will travel to Illinois with the women’s team ranked No. 24 in the nation and No. 3 in the Mid-Atlantic Region, while the men’s team sits at No. 6 in the region.

In its final regular season competition at the Princeton Fall Classic, both teams performed well in an excellent precursor to Friday’s conference championship meet.

The women’s race was highlighted by a third-place finish by Caron. The next four Penn State runners finished close together, with Haley Kitching coming in second for Penn State in 27^th place, followed by Ullom (31^st), Sophia Toti (32^nd) and Lea Hatcher (35^th).

In the men’s 8K, the trio of Nick Sloff, Jake Allen, and DiCola once again pushed Penn State to a solid team finish as the group placed eighth in the race. Sloff placed 21^st overall, with Allen in 40^th and DiCola right behind him in…