Advancing to the NCAA Championships in cross country is quite an accomplishment, earning an automatic berth is even more impressive, but having both men’s and women’s teams automatically qualify for nationals falls into the realm of the remarkable.
The Virginia women’s cross country team’s first-place finish at last Saturday’s NCAA Southeast Regionals, coupled with the Cavalier men’s runner-up team performance, marks just the third time in program history that both squads have advanced to nationals and the first time both have made it on automatic bids.
“I think it’s a huge step,” senior Andrew Jesien said. “I don’t think we’ve ever done that before. It’s really exciting. On the men’s side we definitely expected to qualify, but it is just a qualifying meet after all.”
Racing on what senior Lauretta Dezubay, the Cavaliers’ top regional finisher, described as the “pancake-flat” 6K course at Tanglewood State Park in Clemmons, N.C., the Virginia women turned in arguably their most dominant performance of the season. Led by Dezubay’s sixth-place finish (21:00.6), the squad placed three runners in the top 10 to easily outdistance themselves from runner-up Kentucky 126-105.
Freshman Morgane Gay crossed the line in seventh place, just 2 seconds behind her teammate, to place highest among freshmen in the 231-runner field; junior Stephanie Garcia, a Cavalier Daily tableau editor, also joined Dezubay and Gay in garnering All-Region honors with her ninth-place finish.
“Honestly, I wasn’t too worried about the individual placing,” Dezubay stated in an e-mail. “I knew we had a solid group up front during the race, and it was exciting to be around teammates the entire time.”
While Virginia’s top three runners turned in impressive performances, the rest of the squad’s top seven also contributed greatly to the Cavaliers’ turnaround from their fourth-place finish at ACC Championships two weeks ago.
“It helped having three in the top 10,” Dezubay said, “but our four through seven girls all ran very solid races. It’s usually the four through seven [runners] that make the big difference in winning meets, and I’m so proud of those girls’ races.”
On the men’s side, Virginia also placed three runners in the top 10 but was edged out of the top spot by just one point, finishing runner-up to in-state rival William & Mary 66-67.
Sophomore Emil Heineking paced the pack of orange and blue with his third-place finish in 30:21.08 on the 10K course. Finishing just behind Heineking was ACC champion sixth-year senior Ryan Foster, who earned his fourth All-Region honors as a Cavalier. Also achieving All-Region distinction were sophomore Ryan Collins (10th) and junior Graham Tribble (19th). Jesien rounded out the scoring for Virginia, placing 31st.
“On the men’s side, we did OK,” Jesien said. “We wanted to win the meet but finished second. It was disappointing but this was not as significant as nationals.”
With next Monday’s NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. looming large on the horizon, the Cavaliers will have to maintain their regional pace if they wish to make a statement at the national level.
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