Virginia men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the Joe Piane/Notre Dame Invitational on Friday — a meet hosted by the Fighting Irish at the site of the 2021 ACC Championships. Out of 56 competing teams, the men’s team finished in 21st place and the women’s team in 22nd.
The men’s team competed in the 5-mile event and the women’s team competed in the 5000-meter event, both of which were split up into Blue, Gold and Open events.
For the Blue event, junior Rohann Asfaw had the best time for the Virginia men’s team, placing 16th with a time of 23:55.8, while freshman Colin Peattie was the team’s second-best finisher in 82nd place at 24:50.7. Junior Helena Lindsay led the Virginia women, placing 67th at 17:14.2, while freshman Margot Appleton was 80th at 17:19.0.
Furman took first place as a team for the men’s Blue 5-mile with 129 points while Florida State junior Adriaan Wildschutt led the field with a winning time of 23:06.7. NC State took first place in the women’s race with a score of 38 points while Alabama junior Mercy Chelangat, the reigning NCAA individual champion, won the event with a time of 16:10.3.
For the Open event, freshman Jacob Hunter had the best overall finish for Virginia during the day’s six races. He was the runner-up in the Men’s Open at 24:58.0 while freshman Kevin Carlson was 17th at 25:36.3. Freshman Ellie Desmond was the only Virginia runner who placed in the Women’s Open, coming in 86th with a time of 19:19.1.
Georgetown came in first for the men’s Open 5-mile, while NC State took first place for the women’s Open.
No Virginia runners competed in the Gold event, but CBU clinched first place in both men’s and women’s events.
The next cross country meet for Virginia will be the XC23 Invitational at Panorama Farms in Earlysville, Va. on Oct. 15.