Clinton, Pa. – For the second consecutive year, Robert Morris hosted the Colonial Invitational at Youthtowne in Clinton, Pa.

A list of Western Pennsylvania schools joined the Colonials Friday morning, including Duquesne, Edinboro, Seton Hill, Carnegie Mellon, and Clarion.

This year, the Colonials cross country program is led by a young group that helped place the men’s team third overall and the women’s team sixth in the event.

Head coach Bryan Delsite spoke about his team’s gradual improvements with a group built with underclassmen.

“As a young team, we are just trying to get better each meet,” Delsite said. “The ultimate goal is to be at our best when we get to the Horizon League Championships at the end of October, so I think we are on a good path. We are super young, so it’s all about getting experience for our kids.”

On the men’s side, the Colonials were paced by freshman Tyler Paszkowski who finished the eight-kilometer course with a time of 26:52:17. Paszkowski crossed the finish line 15th overall in the event.

Sophomore Skylar Vavro and freshmen Colten Morris and Ryan Paris followed behind Paszkowski with times under 28 minutes to help the men’s team claim the third spot in the invitational.

“We are starting to build a nice group of young guys,” Delsite said. “It was nice to beat a couple teams and run pretty well as a group.”

As for the women’s side, the Colonials finished sixth out of six teams. They were led by sophomore Grace Mason, who finished 14th overall with a time of 24:49:00 in the six-kilometer race.

Freshmen Ava Lottig, Julia Dill, and sophomore Laura Croco finished within the top 30 for the Colonials.

It was also an important day for the Colonials as it is the only home meet they will host this year and the last time they will compete in Western Pennsylvania for the rest of the season.

“It’s really nice to be able to have home competitions where our kids get to run in front of their friends and families,” Delsite said.

The cross-country program continues its season on Oct. 1 when the Colonials travel to Louisville, Ky., to compete in the Live in the Lou competition.