Two days ago, the Virginia women's cross country team came back from the NCAA Southeast Regionals meet in Furman, S.C., believing they were going to take their first trip to NCAA Nationals in five years.
The Cavs finished fifth in the region, three spots away from automatically qualifying for Nationals in Ames, Iowa. However, they were confident that their strong showing at ACCs two weeks ago and at Pre-Nationals in October would give the NCAA committee enough evidence to take them as an at-large bid.
But yesterday, when the meet field was posted on the Internet, the team discovered that the difference between a dream and disappointment was a matter of about two seconds.
"I skipped class to wait on the results on the computer," said junior Dawn Cleary, who finished fourth for the Cavs at Regionals with a time of 22 minutes, 34 seconds. "The list came out in alphabetical order, so it was pretty obvious that we weren't there. We looked at the list and saw the other teams that were there and saw how close we came."
Four teams from the Southeast Region received bids. North Carolina and N.C. State qualified automatically by finishing 1-2 at Regionals with 72 and 83 points, respectively. Wake Forest and Duke received at-large bids with third and fourth-place finishes, with 117 and 120 points.
Virginia finished fifth with 123 points, just three behind Duke and six behind Wake Forest, and was not invited to Nationals.
"I really thought we were going, but we were the first team they didn't take" cross country coach Jason Dunn said. "If we had beaten Duke, they would have taken us. When it's three points, any one person could have made the difference."
Dunn said he believed the Cavs were more qualified - based on performances in previous meets - than some of the other teams in the field, especially Columbia, who received an automatic bid out of the Northeast region.
The snub ends an improbable season for the Cavalier women, who lost All-American Jennifer Owens from last season's team and made a valiant run at Nationals despite no significant additions. Saturday the Cavs scored 46 points less than they had last year with Owens by relying on depth and experience.
Junior Sarah Folse was Virginia's top finisher at 22:10 and finished 17th overall. Right behind her was senior Dana Coons at 22:11. The Cavs also took the 27th, 28th and 37th spots overall.
On the men's side, Virginia finished fifth at Regionals and did not get invited to Nationals. However, senior Bob Thiele finished fifth overall and qualified to race in Nationals as an individual for his third season. He will race next Monday.
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