PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- The Davis & Elkins Women's Cross Country Team kicked off the 2023 season in ideal race conditions at the Panther Invitational, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Friday and came away with record-breaking individual and team performances as the women finished runner-up in a highly-competitive field.

After the men's race, which saw D&E's men break records of their own, the women kept the record-breaking performances going with freshman Lydia Falkenstein breaking the cross country 5K school record, running 17:34 to finish seventh overall in the field. Also under the previous school record was freshman Kaitlin Pappas (17:42, 9th), who led a large portion of the race.

Three more Senators were under the nineteen-minute barrier, with sophomores Lauren Twyman (18:44) Savanna Hardman (18:45) finishing 22nd and 23rd respectively. Freshman Cameryn Wheeler (18:51, 25th) rounded out the scoring. The women's team scoring average of 18:19 was another school record on the day.

Junior Ella Hesson (19:23, 35th) and freshman Zoe Belshan (19:45, 38th) rounding out the top seven on the day, while freshman Sierra Taylor (19:53, 42nd), sophomore Jensen Kraft (19:56, 43rd), and freshman Hannah Scoggin (19:59, 45th) rounded out the top ten and sub 20:00 performances.

In the women's team standings, the Senators finished second overall out of five programs only behind Division I Pittsburgh, but ahead of nationally-ranked Carnegie Mellon and the Atlantic Region third-ranked Slippery Rock. The Senator women, who came into the meet ranked ninth in the preseason Regional poll look to make a big jump up the ranking with the release of the next poll.

Full individual and team results can be found here: https://tfrrs.org/results/xc/22392/Panthers_Opener#event141366

Up next
Both D&E cross country teams will be back in action September 15 when they travel to Huntington for the Thundering Herd Invitational hosted by Marshall University.