Cavalier Cross Country Awarded Bid to NCAA Championships

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Nov. 18, 2002

The University of Virginia women’s cross country team was extended a bid to the NCAA Championships, which will be held on Monday, November 25, at the Wabash Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Indiana. The women’s race will begin at noon. The Cavaliers are ranked #11 in the latest Mondo National Cross Country Poll, continuing their highest ranking in 20 years.

Virginia finished third at the NCAA Southeast Regional, behind #4 Wake Forest and #6 NC State. The Cavaliers also finished third behind these two teams at the ACC Championships.

Individually, the Hoos are led by first-year Kara Scanlin, who finished 10th overall at the regional with a time of 20:29. She led a pack of UVa runners in Dawn Cleary (12th, 20:34) and Jane Maxwell (14th, 20:40). Scanlin, Cleary and Maxwell were all named All-Region. Scanlin and Maxwell were also All-ACC performers as Scanlin finished 7th and Maxwell 10th overall at the conference meet.

Virginia finished ninth at the NCAA Championships last year, their highest finish since the team won the NCAA title in 1981 and 1982. The Cavaliers’ Jen Owens was sixth overall. Cleary, Meg McGarvey, and Ellen Dwyer return from that top-10 team from 2001. McGarvey and Cleary both finished in the top 100 last year.