Coming off their third place finish at the ACC Championships, the men's and women's cross-country teams are preparing to head to the NCAA regional championships next weekend.
Before the regional meet, however, comes the Cavalier Open, which takes place this Saturday in Charlottesville. In what Virginia coach Jason Dunn described as a tune-up, the Cavaliers will not race their top six or seven runners in order to keep them rested for the NCAA regionals next weekend.
"We were really excited about how we ran at the ACC Championships," Dunn said. "Since our regular season is technically over, we will try to take it a little easy this weekend and let some of our other runners get a chance to run, and possibly move into one of the regional spots."
The Cavalier women, who recently were chosen as the No. 11 team in the country by the Mondo National Cross-Country Poll, have been on a roll, upsetting two top-10 teams at the pre-NCAA meet on Oct. 19 before finishing third at the ACC championships.
They are led by freshman star Kara Scanlin, who finished in seventh place at the ACC championship last weekend. Scanlin -- Virginia's top runner at the pre-NCAA meet -- will take this weekend off to prepare for regionals.
"It is really exciting the way we have been running," Scanlin said. "I didn't think that I would have this kind of success to start the season, but I knew that I had the ability to do it. We can't wait for the regional competition."
The Cavalier Open should provide some fierce competition among the runners. Dunn hinted that several have the chance to jump into the NCAA Regional group.
"Several of the women have a chance to improve their times and get a spot with us in regionals," he said. "It should be a fun race for everyone, because there is that challenge out there for some of the girls. I am very happy with the way we have been racing, so our top seven or so girls will take this weekend off, but it is still an important meet for our team."
Since the leading Cavalier men and women have the weekend off from a racing standpoint, they will have two weeks to practice for the regionals. Dunn, however, stresses that there is not any more 'extra' work that can be put into the preparation.
"The hay is in the barn, and we are ready to race this weekend and next weekend," he said. "There is nothing more we can do as far as preparation goes, so we will just wait to see what happens."
Along with the Cavalier women, the men also were impressive at the ACC tournament. They brought home a third-place finish. The men's team is led by junior Matt Ruhl and Will Christen, who were Virginia's top two men performers at the ACC championship.
On the women's side, Jane Maxwell, Dawn Cleary, Melanie Matthews and Scanlin lead the Cavaliers. If the ACC championship is any indication, the Cavalier Open and NCAA Regionals will be two exciting meets for this year's cross-country team.
Read More
Late hitting and pitching dominance lead Virginia to 12-2 Commonwealth Clash victory
By Ryan Weiner | 4 hours agoVirginia takes the first game of its final regular season series.
In second consecutive NCAA Tournament bid, Virginia slated for Columbia Regional
By Ben McNiff | 6 hours agoVirginia begins Regional play Friday at 3 p.m. versus North Florida, with coverage available on ESPN+.
Live tracker: the men’s basketball offseason
By Michael Liebermann , Emory Huffman and Xander Tilock | 6 hours agoA frenetic offseason likely awaits.
