The Cavalier men's cross country team finished fourth at the NCAA Southeast Regional meet Saturday. While the Cavaliers did not fulfill their goal of winning the region, they were able to put themselves in a solid position to make it to the national meet.
"We knew going in that if we finished in the top four in the meet, that we'd have a solid shot at nationals," Virginia coach Jason Dunn said. "We didn't run poorly, but we ran into three teams that probably had much more to prove than we did."
For the first time in Virginia history, four runners earned All-Regional honors by finishing in the top 25 in the individual standings. ACC Freshman of the Year Emil Heineking was again the first freshman to cross the line, finishing 14th with a time of 30:25. Junior Andy Biladeau checked in at 21st with a time of 30:33.90, and senior Jan Foerster was one place behind him at 30:42.25. Rounding out Virginia's top performers was senior Ryan Foster, with a time of 30:50.10.
On the women's side, Virginia had a slightly disappointing finish, checking in at sixth in the meet. Senior Emily Harrison ran a personal best for this distance, finishing at 20:00.00, good enough for second overall.
"Emily ran very well," Dunn said. "It was her fourth all-region finish and it will be her fourth appearance at nationals. The top four finishers in each region from non-qualifying teams get to race as individuals at the national meet. She'll be shooting for a top-10 finish and to earn some more All-American honors."
Redshirt freshman Stephanie Garcia also earned All-Regional honors with a 25th-place finish. Other standouts included senior Kara Scanlin, an All-American last year who was running in her first race of the year coming off injury. She finished in 34th place. Junior Suzanne Ginnow finished 36th.
"We expect to get to nationals every year, so to fall short of that is disappointing," Dunn said. "But we definitely went after it; the girls gave a great effort. We were really just one person short of being where we wanted to be."
-- compiled by JP Stroman
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