Saturday morning in Columbia, Mo. the Cavaliers took to the Gans Creek course for the second time this year — this time, for the NCAA Championships.
For the men, though they did not place quite as high as they were ranked in the final USATFCCCA poll –– in fifth –– the overall NCAAs finish was their second highest in program history as they rolled in at seventh, a far cry from their 21st place last year.
For many of the Virginia men, it will likely be their last cross country race on the team. At the NCAA cross country conference the day before, senior Gary Martin commented on his feelings going into the race.
“[It is] my last cross country race ever,” Martin said. “I’m excited about it. Just got to be ready to empty the tank.”
Martin had a stellar run, also placing seventh for his highest NCAA cross country finish to date. Last year, he placed 13th, continuing to progress significantly from his first two years. Martin was consistently at the front of the pack, moving around within the top 20 throughout the race. After the race, Martin was asked how he felt about his placing and time of 28:44.3.
“Pretty happy,” Martin said. “Going into the year the mindset was I wanted to win … [but] I’m proud of myself for coming out and just putting myself in the mix no matter what”
The 261 runners were incredibly tight for the first 5,000 meters, lacking an obvious leader.
Virginia got out decently well, and their team placement was largely stable throughout the entire race, generally drifting between seventh and eighth.
Eventually though, New Mexico junior Habtom Samuel pulled away from the pack, with a smaller still closely packed group that included Martin on his heels. From the 6k on, Martin was securely within the top ten –– at one point sitting in fourth but was not able to hold on as the race progressed, ending in seventh.
Outside of Martin, the other scoring runners included graduate student Nate Mountain in 60th, then graduate student Brett Gardener in 81st, and graduate student Nicholas Bendtsen rolled in next at 106th followed by graduate student Justin Wachtel in 110th. Mountain finished in 29:19.5 and Gardener clocked in at 29:30.1.
On the women’s side, the program finished 10 places behind last year. However, this was not a surprise considering the runners they have lost since the previous year.
Coming in first for Virginia was junior Tatum David in 61st with a time of 19:38.9, a huge improvement from her finish in 112th last year. Next was junior Gillian Bushee in 70th, less than four seconds later in 19:42.8. Sophomore Stella Kermes in 113, dropping in at 20:00.9. Rounding out the scorers for the women’s team was sophomore Tatum Olesen and junior Cate DeSousa in 206th and 222nd.
“The women did a good job and set the stage for a big finish next year as all seven runners return in 2026,” Coach Vin Lananna said.
Lananna does raise an important point in that they do have a consistent set of returning athletes, who are gaining ground in their placement. Both David and Bushee had significantly higher places compared to last year and can build on this going into next year.
On the other hand, men’s cross country’s ability to place high will largely depend on their new recruits and transfers next year, pulling together a very new team both in age and time spent at Virginia.
This race concludes Virginia’s cross country season, and the distance runners will soon head to the indoor track at Liberty University for the indoor season opener Dec. 5.
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