The Virginia cross country program is not playing around. Shedding a history of inviting local teams to Charlottesville for a low-key regular season tune-up meet, the Cavaliers will instead host their most marquee field in recent memory Saturday. They will welcome the likes of No. 2 Oklahoma on the men’s side and perennial Big 10 power Wisconsin in the women’s race to the Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational.
Virginia last competed Aug. 31 at the Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational, and even then, most of the top runners were held out or instructed to maintain a controlled effort. In Blacksburg, men’s coach Pete Watson opted to rest his best athletes, and women’s coach Todd Morgan limited his runners to running what amounted to a fast-paced workout. That won’t be the case Saturday morning.
“We’re lining up the horses, and it’s time to run,” Watson said. “This weekend is the first weekend you can get very valuable at-large points for the national meet. Anytime you invite programs like Arkansas, Cal, Oklahoma and Michigan, you know it’s going to be competitive. We’re at home so we want to have a really good showing.”
The performances nearly three weeks ago, although restrained, bode well for both Cavalier squads. The teams demonstrated depth and untapped potential. Sophomore Ed Schrom highlighted the men’s squad by finishing overall runner-up, and the women’s entire top five finished in a pack to claim places 10-14.
“It was a pretty controlled effort,” Morgan said. “We weren’t really racing. We left there knowing more about where the ACC meet is going to be held, and we’re looking forward to beginning the season now.”
Having gained valuable experience on this year’s ACC Championships course when they visited Virginia Tech, the Cavaliers now look to add to their initial success at Panorama Farms — the grueling home course the Virginia athletes know inside and out.
“Definitely it’s a big advantage knowing the course, knowing where the hills are, which parts to run hard on and where you sort of need to lay back and be a little more patient,” junior Chris Foley said. “It builds confidence, because Panorama is the hardest course we run on.”
To the men, the home-course advantage will be key against No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 13 Syracuse, No. 21 Michigan and No. 22 Arkansas. Oklahoma holds the distinction of being the only team in the past five years to break up rival Oklahoma State’s reign of dominance in the Midwest Region with a regional title in 2010. In the Northeast, Syracuse has been even more difficult for opponents to keep up with, as the Orange have won the region every year during the same span.
Curiously, Virginia has closed in on these squads in the national polls despite being idle all month. The Cavaliers are now the top vote-getter outside of the 30 teams earning an official rank, and a positive result could bump them into the official rankings.
“We aren’t going to race,” Watson said jokingly. “It seems like every weekend we don’t race we just move up the rankings.”
The Virginia women, ranked No. 15 nationally and No. 1 in the Southeast Region, are the only ranked women’s team in attendance but will nevertheless face stiff competition. California, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Wisconsin all pose threats to the Cavaliers’ attempt to defend their home course.
Last year, California produced the best performance of Saturday’s bunch at the NCAA Championships with an 18th place showing, two spots ahead of Virginia and six in front of Wisconsin. California, however, graduated five of the seven runners who competed at the 2011 NCAAs.
“It shows that teams across the country recognize that we’d be a quality team to beat,” Watson said. “They’re not coming here to lose … they’re coming here knowing if they beat us, it’s going to help them. We understand that, and that motivates us as well.”
Junior Katherine Walker crossed first for the Virginia women in Blacksburg but is just one of several Cavaliers capable of leading the team this weekend.
With their first big meet looming, the Virginia runners are itching to toe the line. Foley, who redshirted the outdoor season last spring, is among the Cavaliers eager to finally lace up their shoes and don the Virginia uniform.
“It was frustrating at the time, but I definitely want to run a fifth year, so from that standpoint, looking long-term it was okay,” Foley said. “I’m very excited to race. It’s been a while.”
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