Editor’s Note: Robert Morris ended up not participating in the Eden Hall Invitational due to too many injured and sick athletes.

The Robert Morris women’s cross country team will head to Gibsonia, PA, this weekend for the Eden Hall Invitational. This meet will be hosted by Chatham University of the Presidents Athletic Conference (PAC). The Colonials will be looking to make up for their 8th place finish in their last meet, the Tommy Mills Invitational.

For Chatham, runner Rebecca Pennington won the last meet for the Cougars at the Waynesburg Invitational. Robert Morris will be looking to have a good result of their own here at this huge meet. Let’s take a look at this upcoming event.

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A look at RMU

The Colonials will enter their 3rd meet of the season looking to improve on the slow start they have had thus far this season. RMU kicked the season off at the Duquesne Duals. Their best finish at this event came from Sami Felton, who placed 35th.

A week later, Robert Morris headed to Akron for the Tommy Evans Invitational. Here, the Colonials came in 8th out of nine teams. Felton led the way for the Colonials once again, and teammate Tara Richardson finished 25 seconds later.

Now the Colonials have had three weeks off prior to the meet this weekend. We will have to wait and see if they improved during this large gap in their schedule. It will be very interesting to see come Saturday.

A look at Chatham

The host of this meet, Chatham University, have had three events thus far on their 2018 campaign. They fell to Allegheny at the Cougar Challenge to begin the season. The Cougars then came in 6th out of seven teams at the Allegheny Classic. Rebecca Pennington would then win the 3rd meet of the season, the Waynesburg Invitational. However, the next highest finishing Cougars would come in 42nd and 43rd place.

Chatham has indeed struggled this year, but through Pennington, they have a chance at success. Add this to the fact that they are the hosts of this meet, and the Cougars could be dangerous this weekend.

Who to watch

Rebecca Pennington (Chatham): Pennington has consistently been the most reliable runner the Cougars have. She commonly finishes far ahead of her teammates and has won an event this year. Her average mile time has been around 6:10 so far this year. Pennington is the key to success for Chatham at their own event. Don’t be surprised to see her name towards the top of the finishers list.

Sami Felton (RMU): Felton has led the Colonials through their two meets this season. Due to the Colonials sluggish start to begin their season, they will be turning to her to lead them. Felton has had a mile time that usually falls in the 6:20-6:30 range which is the best on the team. She will definitely have the best finish for the Colonials at this meet.