Virginia Hosts 10th-Annual Cavalier Open on Friday

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia cross country team will host the 10th-annual Cavalier Open on Friday afternoon at Panorama Farms in Earlysville, Va. Races are scheduled to begin with the men’s 8k race at 4 p.m., and the women’s 5k race at 4:45 p.m.

Led by senior All-American Emil Heineking’s individual conference title and redshirt junior Ryan Collins’ runner-up finish at last weekend’s ACC Championships, the No. 21 Cavalier men finished fourth overall. Heineking has won two individual titles this season – the ACC Championship and his second-straight Panorama Farms Invitational title, while Collins was named the ACC Performer of the Week on Sept. 13. Heineking became the ninth two-time ACC Champion in the conference’s 57-year history, while he is also the third Cavalier in program history to earn All-ACC honors all four years of competition.

The women, currently the top-ranked team in the Southeast Region, finished runner-up to then-No. 3 Florida State at ACCs, upsetting then-No. 12 Duke and then-No. 17 North Carolina to move up to No. 12 in the nation. Three Cavaliers earned All-ACC honors at the meet, with sophomore Barbara Strehler, redshirt senior Stephanie Garcia and junior Morgane Gay all finishing in the top-10. To open the season, Garcia won the Lou Onesty Invitational and was named the ACC Performer of the Week on Sept. 13.

There will be no team scores compiled at this weekend’s Cavalier Open.

Following the individual races, Virginia will head to Louisville, Ky., looking to earn a berth into the NCAA meet at the 2010 NCAA Southeast Regional Championships.

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