The Virginia men's and women's cross country teams opened their seasons this past weekend, hosting the Lou Onesty Invitational at Panorama Farms. The Cavaliers managed to start their seasons off on the right foot, as both squads finished first in their respective events.
The Virginia men took the title with a team score of 28, a 30-point advantage to second-place Norfolk State. UNC-Greensboro and George Mason followed in third and fourth, respectively. In an individual race for the record books, Virginia junior Emil Heineking finished nearly a minute ahead of the next closest competitor with an 8K time of 24 minutes, 4.8 seconds. Heineking's mark was 10 seconds less than the previous meet record set by Liberty's Josh McDougal in 2006 and helped earn him ACC Performer of the Week honors.
As a whole, the Cavaliers turned in an impressive team performance, with four runners finishing in the top 10. Such a stellar result this early in the season is a good sign for the squad, which is trying to repeat its success from last year despite graduating several top performers.
"I think our team is moving in the right direction," Heineking said. "We have a lot of upside, and I am pretty excited for the rest of the season."
The Cavalier women, meanwhile, fared even better than the men in their race, as all five scoring runners crossed the line in the top 10 to give Virginia an impressive team score of 19 - only four points higher than the best possible score. The hosts finished well ahead of runner-up UNC-Greensboro (67), which edged out George Mason (68) and Norfolk State (98). For the second year in a row, senior Lauretta Dezubay won the individual crown, with a time of 17:42.5.
After winning the event for two consecutive years, Dezubay has proven her consistency as Virginia's top runner.
"It is always nice to cross the finish line first, but it doesn't mean too much this early," Dezubay said. "It is more of an indicator of how well summer training was and how we are doing for this point in the season."
Crossing the line close behind her was junior Laurel MacMillian and senior Stephanie Garcia, a Cavalier Daily tableau editor.
"We were fortunate this weekend to have everyone that raced run well," Virginia coach Jason Vigilante said. "We are hoping that as we introduce more athletes into the competition roster that we will continue to have good results."
Although cross country is an individual sport, personal success helps determine how well the team does.
The runners who finish first receive the lowest score, and the scores for the first five runners on a team are combined to form the team's overall score. The team with the lowest combined score wins.
Whether a squad is racing in a highly competitive invitational or a smaller dual meet, having runners finish close together in a pack pays off.
"When you are at a major championship, having someone very low is quite helpful," Vigilante said. "If your fifth runner is going to score the most points, sometimes if you have the event winner, it is almost like scoring four individuals. Your hope, though, is that you have five really good runners."
Having emerged victorious from their first race of the season, Virginia's runners will look to duplicate their meet-winning performances Oct. 3 at George Mason.
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