Virginia Men’s and Women’s Cross Country hit the ground running. Literally.
Friday, Sept. 11, Virginia opened their 2026 season on home turf with the seventh-annual Virginia Invitational at Panorama Farms. Beyond Virginia, the meet hosted a bevy of teams, featuring Howard, Johns Hopkins, Norfolk State’s men, North Carolina, Wake Forest’s women and William & Mary. No stranger to Panorama’s charming hills and grassy course, the Cavaliers showed off their preseason preparation with a gritty and vigorous season-opener.
Third-year Stella Kermes led the Cavalier women to clinch second overall with her own second-place finish and new personal best time of 16:54.8 in the women’s 5k. Kermes was one of Virginia’s five top 10 finishers with third-year Tatum Olesen (16:57.5) trailing right behind in third, third-year Cate DeSousa (17:08.0, PB) in sixth, fifth-year Carly Wilkes (17:08.9) in seventh and second-year Katie Payne (17:14.7, PB) in 10th.
The women’s team returns riding the same momentum that led them to a fifth-place overall finish at the 2026 ACC Outdoor Track & Field championships — a wave of momentum that has comfortably positioned them at No. 3 in the Southeastern Regional poll and No. 15 in the nation according to USTFCCCA preseason polls.
Over on the men’s side, first-year Luke Hnatt, second-year Henry Acorn and first-year Sean Gray led Virginia to a third-place team finish in the 6k. Hnatt clocked an 18:03.4 to place 10th, closely followed by Acorn’s 18:08.0 for 11th and Gray right on his heels with 18:12.2 for 12th.
The young group made a promising debut, especially with the team coming off the program’s best team finish at the 2025 NCAA Cross Country Championships since 1984, where Gary Martin landed All-America honors and led the Cavaliers to a seventh-place finish.
The Cavaliers placed three more in the top 30 with freshman Philip Cupial (18:36.5) in 25th, senior Richard Moreno (18:36.5) in 26th and senior Aidan Cox (18:40.2) in 28th.
If Friday’s performance underscored anything, it’s the potential Virginia’s roster harnesses this season with promising returners and new additions alike. This season is also an opportunity to see how the team performs under new leadership, with the invitational being new interim Coach Trevor Dunbar’s coaching debut following former head coach Vin Lananna’s departure in July.
“Performance-wise, on the men’s side, we are coming in with a young team with little to no experience,” Dunbar said. “Today was a chance to see where they are at and it was not where we wanted to be, but we know we have a lot of work to do. I was really proud of the way Luke Hnatt led us. He showed a lot of heart and grit today.”
The team will return to Panorama Farms later in the season for the Panorama Farms Invitational Oct. 16, where they will look to outdo their own strong performance from this weekend.
Now, the Virginia men’s and women’s cross country teams will travel to Chicago to compete in the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational hosted by Loyola Sept. 25.
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