In order to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, teams must either place in the top two of their regional race or wait until Saturday for the extra 13 teams to be announced. Virginia cross country decided it did not want to wait.
The Cavaliers enjoyed a successful Friday morning at the NCAA Southeast Regionals in sunny Rock Hill, S.C., as both the men’s and women’s claimed spots at nationals. The men’s team took first with juniors Gary Martin and Will Anthony nabbing eighth and ninth place individually. The Cavaliers were runners-up on the women’s side, finishing just behind NC State. Senior Margot Appleton had another strong performance, placing fifth, while junior Jenny Schilling took sixth.
“The key to a regional championship is qualifying for the NCAA Championships,” Vin Lananna, director of track and field and cross country, said. “Both teams … did a great job staying poised throughout the race and difficult conditions.”
The women’s 6k race kicked off just before 10:30 a.m with a field of nearly 250 runners. A little over the 1k mark, Appleton and junior Jenny Schilling had positioned themselves in 10th and 12th place. By 3k, a gap had opened up between the top four runners and the rest of the pack, but still, the pair had climbed a few positions with Schilling in sixth and Appleton in seventh.
With 1k to go, Appleton moved ahead of Schilling into sixth place. Sophomore Gillian Bushee and senior Sophie Atkinson moved up into 23rd and 24th with senior Camryn Menninger a few places behind in 27th. Sophomore Stella Kermes settled in at 44th.
In the end, NC State sophomore Grace Hartman won the women’s race, beating out Clemson freshman Silvia Jelego by 0.2 seconds. Appleton placed fifth with a time of 20:32.1 with Schilling right behind her, finishing in sixth in 20:34.6. Bushee crossed the finish line in 21st in 21:14.1 followed by Atkinson in 24th in 21:18.4. Less than two seconds later, David followed in 30th place. Menninger finished in 37th and Kermes in 48th.
The Cavaliers finished in second overall with 85 points, automatically qualifying themselves for the NCAA Cross Country Championships. On a difficult course, the women’s team stayed very consistent and close together throughout the entire race, which ultimately led them to a very successful finish.
“On the women’s side, the team got done what they had to get done,” Lananna said. “They knew they needed to be in the top two and put themselves in position from the beginning.”
An hour after the start of the women’s race, 240 runners lined up for a men’s 10k race that would prove surprising. Close to the 2k mark, Anthony and Martin were in 13th and 15th, respectively. Seniors Andrew Jones and Nathan Mountain, as well as graduate student Wes Porter, were all located between 30th and 40th place.
Martin and Anthony began moving up at the 3k mark into seventh and ninth, and the overall team moved from fifth into second. At the half-way point, Martin attempted to make a move, shifting into second just behind North Carolina senior Ethan Strand. Unfortunately, Martin was not able to hold this and fell back into seventh with a little over 3k left in the race.
Martin moved around a bit in the pack as the race continued, and Anthony managed to cover some ground, moving back into ninth at the 8k mark after having fallen back into 13th earlier in the race.
Virginia Tech sophomore George Couttie shocked the field by claiming the individual win with a time of 29:41.7. In fact, no Virginia or North Carolina runner finished in the top four — a surprise considering the Cavaliers and the Tar Heels were the top team finishers. Virginia’s 79 points edged out North Carolina by six and were enough to give Lananna’s team the victory.
Martin and Anthony placed eighth and ninth, respectively, completing the race within 0.3 seconds of each other with times of 30:00.3 and 30:00.6. Jones placed 17th with a time of 30:27.3, and Mountain finished three seconds later in 19th. Next, Porter crossed the line in 30:37.8, placing 26th. Graduate student Jack Eliason laid down a time of 31:29.6 to finish 56th, and Justin Wachtel placed 100th in 32:22.6.
The men’s and women’s teams both showed improvement from last year’s regional, in which the men placed fifth and the women third. The Cavaliers will try to carry this momentum into next week as they head to Madison, Wis., for the NCAA Cross Country Championships. The races will take place Nov. 23.
Read More
Volleyball falls to Stanford in three straight sets
By Victoria Blankenship | 4 hours agoEven though they lost via a sweep, the Cavaliers fought admirably.
As Virginia meets Villanova, two programs running eerily similar tracks square off
By Michael Liebermann | 4 hours agoThe Cavaliers and the Wildcats, both trying to find their way after losing legendary coaches, will battle Friday night.
No. 4 seed women’s soccer opens NCAA Tournament play Friday against Princeton
By Peter Kratz | 18 hours agoVirginia missed the ACC Tournament but still has a chance to prove itself in the postseason.
