The Virginia men’s and women’s cross country teams finish their respective seasons today in the NCAA National Championships, and both teams have high hopes of capturing the title in Terre Haute, Ind. after impressive showings at the regional qualifier.
This is the first time in school history that both the men’s and women’s teams received an automatic bid to the National Championships.
“The expectation has been established,” said coach Jason Vigilante, who is in his first season with the Cavaliers. “We aspire to be one of the best programs year to year. Consequently, winning the regional is just what we aim to do every season.”
The women’s team won its regional title, and the men came within 1 point of beating rival William & Mary for the win. Sophomore Emil Heineking, senior Ryan Foster, junior Graham Tribble, sophomore Ryan Collins, senior Lauretta Dezubay, junior Stephanie Garcia, a tableau editor for The Cavalier Daily, and freshman Morgane Gay all received all-region honors for their individual performances.
The women’s team has seen definite improvement since last season, when it sent only one individual runner to the National Championships. This season, the team has a more aggressive mentality with regards to performing as a cohesive unit.
“We planned for the course to be fast and our competition to challenge us,” Vigilante said. “No doubt we were ready.”
The men’s team, on the other hand, came in as the heavy favorite to win the regional meet. Led by ACC Champion Foster, the men fell just 1 point short of victory.
“Yes we came within a point of winning, but the individual performances were nearly excellent,” Vigilante said. “We are a good team and I’m very excited to coach these guys to the next level.”
During the week between the regional qualifier and the championships, the teams sought to relax, recover and mentally prepare for the task at hand. Today’s meet is the last of the season and comes with the most pressure attached. While the women go in riding high off of their regional victory, the men are looking for a little redemption.
“I am not going to say we need to bounce back,” Vigilante said. “We just need to do what we are able for 30 minutes on Monday. Honestly, it’s that simple.”
Both the men’s and the women’s teams are hungry for national titles. The women, who entered the national rankings this week at No. 28, are making their first appearance in the championships as a team since 2006. The men are hoping to improve on last season’s 12th-place finish at the national championships.
Foster enters today’s race with a positive outlook.
“We have consistently been able to put our top five guys in before the top five guys on other teams,” Foster said. “You know, beast mode, on the field.”
All these cross-country “beasts” need now is some hardware.
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