This weekend the Cavalier cross country team will split up and hit the road for two different meets: the NCAA Pre-Nationals at Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind. and the Tribe Open at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.. The Pre-Nationals meet is by far the more crucial of the two and Virginia's leading runners will be there. The Cavaliers will be competing in the men's 8,000 meter Blue Race, which is the first race of the day at 11 a.m., and the women's 6,000 meter Blue Race, which will begin at 12:20 p.m. The Tribe Open gives the team's younger runners a chance to gain valuable experience in a low-pressure setting.
On the men's side, the Cavaliers will be at full strength with the return of senior All-American Jan Foerster, who did not run in the team's last meet, the Roy Griak Invitational.
"We didn't run Jan Foerster before," Virginia coach Jason Dunn said. "But he will be racing this weekend. There are 39 men's teams there, and we'd like to be at least in the top five."
Other men's teams at the tournament include No. 2 Wisconsin, which returns junior Matt Withrow, recently named Big Ten Cross-Country Runner of the Week after finishing first at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Ore.. Other ranked teams at Pre-Nationals include Iona, Oklahoma State, Alabama and Virginia's in-state rival William & Mary. The Tribe, however, will be running in the White Race, the second race of the day.
The women's team is still somewhat depleted, with senior Kara Scanlin and junior Katie Read out with injuries. The Cavaliers, however, still have senior All-American Emily Harrison, who is coming off her second win in as many meets. Last week, she won the Roy Griak Invitational by 18 seconds over second-place finisher Lisa Koll of Iowa State. Harrison was later named ACC Runner of the Week for her performance.
"I'm feeling pretty confident going in," Harrison said. "I was fifth in Minnesota last year after leading for most of the race, so it helps my confidence that I was able to win it this year."
Harrison's stiffest competition in the women's race could come from Stanford senior Arianna Lambie, who won the individual title at the 2007 Stanford Invitational with an impressive time of 19:48. Stanford is the two-time defending NCAA champions and is currently ranked No. 1 in the country.
The Pre-Nationals tournament will be an opportunity for Virginia to face, and hopefully defeat, strong teams from other regions that they probably will not face again before nationals. Cross country NCAA qualifying is done in a more objective way than in other sports, such as basketball. The top two teams in each of the nine regions automatically qualify for the tournament, but there are also 13 at-large bids available. For these bids, third-, fourth- and even fifth-place finishers in each region are compared to see which team has the most wins against the 18 teams that have already qualified for the tournament. If Virginia is able to beat teams that are expected to qualify for the tournament, that will help them if they do not finish in the region's top two.
"Obviously, our goal is to be one of the top two teams," coach Jason Dunn said, "But it can't hurt to build up some at-large points in case that doesn't happen for some reason"
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