Cross Country Squads Both Place 14th at NCAA Championships

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Nov. 20, 2006

The men’s and women’s cross country teams both placed 14th overall at the NCAA Division I Championship this afternoon. Third-year Emily Harrison and fourth-year Kara Scanlin both earned All-American honors on the women’s side, making them the first Cavaliers, men or women, to earn the honor since Jennifer Owens placed 6th overall back in 2001. Harrison placed 20th overall, making up for her near miss at being an All-American last season, while Scanlin was 25th. For the men, fourth-year Jan Foerster barely missed All-American honors by 1.5 seconds. He placed 32nd overall and was the first ACC runner across the line.

Both squads exhibited marked improvement over last year’s Nationals finish, improving their overall team finish by 12 spots. For the men, this is their second highest finish in school history, behind a fourth place finish in 1984. The men, who came into the meet ranked 29th, finished first among all ACC schools, defeating both ACC Champion NC State and ACC runner-up Florida State, both of whom are ranked in the top-10 nationally. All together, the Virginia men defeated 14 teams ranked above them. In addition, the Cavaliers were the second team from the Southeast Region to finish in today’s race, upending Louisville, who had defeated the Cavaliers two weeks ago. The Cavalier women came into the meet ranked 27th and defeated 14 teams ranked ahead of them, including third-ranked and 2006 ACC Champion NC State. The Hoos also upset ACC rival Virginia Tech, who had edged the Cavaliers two weeks ago in the regional meet. The women were the second ACC school to finish, behind only Duke, who took 10th place.

“I’m just really thrilled at how we performed today on both sides. For us to meet our goals of being top 15 in the country is really great combined with Emily and Kara both getting All-American honors. It would have been an even better day if Jan hadn’t missed by 1.5 seconds but he still had an excellent race. I just think it’s so note-worthy how both teams have mirrored each other throughout this season,” said head coach Jason Dunn.

On the women’s side, Stanford defended their team title from last year and Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech won individually. On the men’s side Colorado upset pre-race favorite Wisconsin and won their third National title, and Josh Rohatinsky of BYU won individually.

Women’s Results:
20 Emily Harrison 21:13.8
25 Kara Scanlin 21:16.4
66 Katie Read 21:49.2
175 Laura Hodges 22:42.3
186 Lauretta Dezubay 22:51.2
227 Janine Ricci 23:36.8
230 Sara Casscells 23:44.9

Team Results (national rank):1. Stanford (1) 1952. Colorado (6) 2233. Michigan (10) 2334. Wisconsin (8) 2625. Arkansas (2) 2866. Texas Tech (13) 3007. Providence (21) 3018. Illinois (5) 3049. Santa Barbara (7) 31810. Duke (12) 32011. Minnesota (9) 33512. Michigan State (4) 35813. Arizona State (11) 37514. VIRGINIA (27) 38315. Georgia (15) 40116. Georgetown (18) 40317. Iowa (24) 40918. Virginia Tech (20) 41719. NC State (3) 42720. Iona (19) 43121. Florida State (29) 43622. BYU (17) 44823. Princeton (14) 45424. Colorado State (22) 47525. Weber State (26) 48826. Florida (23) 53627. Wake Forest (RV) 55428. Tennessee (25) 56529. Baylor (30) 63130. Boston College (16) 66131. UNC (UR) 755

Men’s Results:
32 Jan Foerster 31:38.0
99 Andrew Dumm 32:37.1
115 Andy Biladeau 32:43.3
165 Taylor Smith 33:12.5
177 Andrew Jesien 33:26.4
236 Alex Tatu 34:37.2

Men’s Teams (national rank):1. Colorado (2) 942. Wisconson (1) 1423. Iona (4) 1724. Stanford (6) 1955. Oregon (5) 1965. Arkansas (3) 1967. Texas (16) 2468. William & Mary (21) 2929. Providence (11) 29310. Oklahoma State (12) 35611. BYU (8) 36712. Washington (22) 41413. Cal Poly SLO (RV) 44114. VIRGINIA (29) 44615. Louisville (25) 45816. NC State (7) 46917. Michigan State (26) 47318. Portland (UR) 48719. Notre Dame (14) 49520. Kansas (17) 50921. Arizona (23) 51722. Florida (18) 52123. UCLA (30) 54624. Georgetown (13) 54725. Butler (19) 55026. American (27) 55227. Santa Barbara (28) 55328. Iowa (24) 58029. Washington State (UR) 59530. Florida State (10) 60231. Alabama (15) 683