After getting the weekend off while only part of the team competed at the Cavalier Open, the men’s and women’s cross country teams are well-rested and ready to race at the NCAA Regional Championships this weekend in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The last time the varsity runners hit the course was at the ACC Championships in Chapel Hill, N.C. Nov. 1. The No. 13 men took home first place and the women tied for fourth. Virginia senior Ryan Foster earned the team’s first-ever individual title at the ACC Championships, leading the men’s team to win its second consecutive ACC title.
Sophomore Ryan Collins led the 8K race most of the way and finished sixth as Foster took control in the final lengths.
Foster’s successful efforts at the ACC Championships were rewarded when he was named the ACC Men’s Performer of the Week last week, the first time he has been given that award in his career. He follows teammates junior Trey Miller and senior Lauretta Dezubay as runners who have previously received the honor.
The Cavaliers were not as impressive, however, in the Pre-NCAA Meet — which is a prelude to the NCAA Regional Championships — two weeks before the ACC Championships. The men’s team placed sixth at the Pre-NCAA meet Oct. 18, while the women fell back to 23rd.
Virginia coach Mark Vigilante, however, has nothing but confidence that his team has grown since October.
“We are a competitive bunch,” Vigilante said. “We are not going into this meet to get second place. I know the men that we have on our team hate to lose. To behave any other way than trying our best to win is uncharacteristic of us. We are going to show up and compete.”
Though the women have been upholding Vigilante’s standards by giving it their all, their results have not reached as high as the men’s team this season. The women’s team tied Duke at the ACC Championships, finishing fourth overall.
Vigilante said he thinks this weekend is an opportunity to prove to both teams just how capable they are.
“My hope is that when we finish the race on Saturday that we understand we are better than what we have been giving ourselves credit for,” Vigilante said. “Our bunch is very talented, tremendously fit and really ready to go. The only ingredient missing for us to have a successful outcome is for the ladies to really know we are good enough and that we belong at the upper level.”
Dezubay and junior Stephanie Garcia, a Cavalier Daily tableau editor, reflected their “upper level” qualities, leading the women’s team at the ACC Championships; in the 6K event, Garcia finished eighth and Dezubay 10th.
Virginia’s success this season can be partly attributed to the arrival of Vigilante, who was recently honored with the title of 2008 ACC Coach of the Year for his work during his first season with the Cavs.
In addition to coaching, team dynamics have been equally important.
“I think what has helped is having a really solid group of girls,” Dezubay said. “Our runners are close together as a pack, and we aren’t running as a group of individuals. It has really helped our team come together on and off the field.”
Dezubay said she believes — the Pre-NCAA meet aside — that the team impressed itself and others with its level of competition at the ACC Championships at the beginning of the month.
“We showed we could perform at ACCs,” Dezubay said. “That kind of opened people’s eyes as to how good our team can be and will be this weekend.”
The teams can qualify for the NCAA Championships later in the month by finishing first or second at Regionals or by placing third and finishing behind two teams Virginia beat earlier in the season. Should the teams qualify for the NCAA championship, only their performance at that race will matter.
“The nice thing about cross country is the national championship will have 31 teams, 10,000 meters, no timeouts, one winner and that’s it. It only matters what you do on Nov. [23],” Vigilante said. “I don’t anticipate any surprises [in the Regional Championships]. I know we are in very good shape [for the regional meet], and I am looking forward to the opportunity to try to qualify for the national championship.”
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