Senior Kristen Koch walked off the NCAA District Championships field last Saturday feeling unsatisfied with the Penn women's cross country team's finish at the event.
Though the Quakers had an uphill battle to climb at the home of the West Virginia Mountaineers, Koch had hoped that the Quakers would make a run at the upper echelon at their final fall meet.
But, on this day, Penn -- which finished with a final team score of 324 -- was 10th best in the field.
It was the second-straight year that Penn has taken 10th at the District Championships.
"We were hoping to finish a lot higher than we did," Koch said. "If we all had run as we could have, we definitely would have had a better finish."
Georgetown (50 points) and Villanova (57 points) took the top two spots.
Princeton, the only other Ivy League team in the top-10, took fifth, with a tally of 144. The Quakers have been unable to keep up with the Tigers' talented runners all season long, despite noticeable improvements from Penn since last season.
"Georgetown or Villanova win almost every year, so that's almost a given," Koch said. "Still, we were just looking to run well for ourselves and we didn't."
Pacing the Quakers at the meet was junior Abbi Gleeson, who ran a time of 22:26.2 to finish 38th in the meet. Gleeson has led the Red and Blue all season long, but despite another year of eligibility, the Quakers' top runner will not return next season due to an early graduation.
Other Quakers in the top-100 included Koch, who finished 54th, freshman Christine Myers (63rd), and junior Lainie Lord (66th).
Now that the fall season has come to a close, the Quakers are gearing up to change surfaces for the winter season. During the winter, the Penn women's cross country team moves indoor to become the Penn women's track team.
Competition for the track team begins Dec. 7 when Penn travels to Providence, R.I. to do battle with Brown.
Before then, however, the Quakers will take it easy in preparation workouts as it recovers from the cross country season.
"We have some down time where were are not running or working out as intensively," Koch said. "We don't really have any time off, but we still do have some time to ease ourselves in before we come back."
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