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July 6, 2007
2007 Virginia Cross Country Schedule
Virginia head cross country coach Jason Dunn has released the schedule for the 2007 campaign, a season highlighted with the return of the ACC Cross Country Championships to Charlottesville at the end of October. The Cavaliers will also host two other events, including the season-opening Lou Onesty Invitational and the Cavalier Open, the final event before the NCAA Regional Championships.
“We are pleased and honored to have once again been selected as the host of the ACC Cross Country Championships,” said Dunn. “The ACC is one of the strongest conferences in the nation, and the 2007 meet promises to be another great one.”
After hosting the Lou Onesty Invitational on Sept. 8, the Cavaliers will have two weeks off before splitting the squad to compete in a pair of meets on Sept. 29. One group will compete in the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational at Minnesota, while another group will run at the William & Mary Invitational in Williamsburg. Two weeks later Virginia will again run in a pair of meets, with selected athletes competing at the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet in Terre Haute, Indiana on the course of the 2007 NCAA Championships, which will be hosted again by Indiana State. Another group of Cavaliers will go to Williamsburg to compete in the Tribe Open.
Virginia will host the 2007 ACC Cross Country Championships on October 27 at Panorama Farms before hosting the Cavalier Open the following weekend. The Hoos will then compete at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships in Louisville.
“It is another challenging schedule,” said Dunn, “but it is one that affords us quality competition and should help us prepare to send both squads back to the NCAAs for the third consecutive year. “
In 2006, both the men’s and the women’s teams finished 14th at the NCAA Championships after both squads finished 26th in 2005. These seasons mark the only two in school history in which both the men’s and women’s teams qualified for the NCAA meet in the same season.
“Keeping the cross country teams at a national level is a top priority for us,” said Randy Bungard, Director of Track and Field and Cross Country. “This schedule will allow us to run against the best competition in the country and continue to move the program forward.”