Virginia Opens Home Competition with Cavalier Classic on Saturday
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s and women’s cross country teams will host their first of two regular season home meets on Saturday (Sept. 14) as the teams compete in the inaugural Cavalier Classic at Panorama Farms in Earlysville, Va.
The Virginia men’s team leads the field, entering the weekend ranked No. 23 according to the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Associations’ (USTFCCCA) preseason poll that was released August 27. The Cavalier men are the only ranked team in the weekend’s competition.
How to Follow
Fans can follow the action with live results through a link on VirginiaSports.com. Updates throughout the competition will be provided on the team’s official Twitter account (@UVATFCC).
Meet Information
Date: Saturday, Sept. 14
Location: Panorama Farms – Earlysville, Va.
• Men’s 8k – 9 a.m.
• Women’s 5k – 9:40 a.m.
The Meet
• The Cavaliers host their home opener on Saturday, competing in the inaugural Cavalier Classic.
• The men’s race will feature ACC foes Duke and North Carolina in addition to Norfolk St. and Tennessee.
• The UVA women will race Maryland, Norfolk St., North Carolina and Tennessee.
Who’s Leading the Hoos
• The Cavaliers will compete for the first time under Director of Track and Field and Cross Country/Associate Athletics Director for Administration Vin Lananna.
• Lananna has tallied a combined 11 NCAA team championships during his career, winning the NCAA Championships five time while at Stanford and six times at Oregon.
• He was named the NCAA Cross Country Coach of the Year five times
• He was inducted in to the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame in 2012.
• Lananna served as the U.S. men’s track and field coach at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janerio, and the U.S. head coach for the 1990 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and 1996 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
• He also led the U.S. men’s team at the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, in addition to serving as the men’s distance coach at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, and the U.S. distance coach at the 1999 World Championships in Seville, Spain.
The Team
• The Virginia men’s cross country team opens its seventh consecutive season ranked in the top 25 in the USTFCCCA.
• The men were picked to finish second in the southeast region for the fourth consecutive year.
• The Cavaliers welcome 10 first-years to their roster as the teams add Bryson Crites (Trabuco Canyon, Calif.), Justin Diehl (Saint Leonard, Md.), Ali Ibrahim (Glen Allen, Va.), Jacob Hunter (Leesburg, Va.), Davis Young (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Ethan Zeh (Wayne, Pa.) to the men’s roster and Natalie Bardach (Vienna, Va.), Coco Holliday (Nashville, Tenn.), Emma Myer (Branchville, N.J.) and Alahna Sabbakhan (Washington D.C.) join the women’s team.
Last Time Out
• Virginia opened the season at the Liberty Challenge in Lynchburg on Aug. 30.
• Sophomores Derek Johnson (Leesburg, Va.) and Peter Morris (Hamilton, Va.) led the Cavaliers on the 4k course, finishing second and third, respectively, as both runners ran a time of 12:39. Senior Sam Teller (Blacksburg, Va.) recorded a top 10 finish at the meet, placing sixth with a time of 12:39.
• Juniors Madelin Rennyson and Libby Davidson led the women’s team, as both runners posted a top 10 finish in their hometown. Rennyson ran a time of 15:23 for fifth place, while Davidson’s time of 15:24 placed her sixth in the competition.
• In her collegiate debut, freshman Coco Holliday (Nashville, Tenn.) rounded out the top ten, running a 4k time of 15:41.