USU Men's Cross Country Finishes Ninth at Paul Short Run Behind Strong Performance by McKenna

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USU Men's Cross Country Finishes Ninth at Paul Short Run Behind Strong Performance by McKenna

Tori Parkinson Leads Aggie Women to 21st Place Finish

	Senior Kyle McKenna placed 31st out of 397 runners with a time of 24:38 in the College Men's Gold 8K Race at the 40th annual Paul Short Run, hosted by Lehigh University. McKenna's time was good enough for the fastest eight-kilometer race in the Mountain West so far this season.

Oct. 5, 2013

Bethlehem, Pa. -

Senior Kyle McKenna placed 31^st out of 397 runners with a time of 24:38 in the College Men's Gold 8K Race at the 40^th annual Paul Short Run, hosted by Lehigh University. McKenna's time was good enough for the fastest eight-kilometer race in the Mountain West so far this season. Junior Eric Shellhorn also had a strong showing, finishing 42^nd with a time of 24:48.

Freshman Tori Parkinson led the way for the women's team, placing 87^th out of the field of 406 with a time of 21:41 in the College Women's Gold 6K Race.

Facing the stiffest competition to date this season, the Aggie men's team placed ninth out of 47 with 393 points. On the women's side, Utah State placed 21^st out of 48 with 615 points. Indiana claimed the top spot in the men's race, while Georgetown took first on the women's side.

"Coming into this meet, our goal was to perform as well as we could. The conditions were pretty hot and humid, which we're not used to, but I think we had some great performances on the guys' side and solid performances on the girls' side," said veteran head coach Gregg Gensel. "We wanted our girls to be in the top-20 in this meet, as it was very competitive, and they were 21^st. I thought they performed very well. We were hoping for the guys to be in the top-15 and they placed ninth so that was great to see."

Utah State cross country teams return to action on Friday, Oct. 11 at the Southern Utah Invitational in Cedar City, Utah.