CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s and women’s cross country teams will compete at the ACC Championships on Friday (Oct. 29) at the Burke Cross Country Course at Notre Dame. The women’s 6k race will begin at 10:10 a.m. and the men’s 8k competition will start at 11 a.m.
Race Coverage
Both races will be carried live on ACC Network and online. ACCNX is available to authenticated subscribers of ACC Network via the ESPN App or online at Watch ESPN.
The Men’s Championship
Racing for the Cavalier men are Rohann Asfaw, Jackson Braddock, Jacob Hunter, Derek Johnson, Ka’eo Kruse, Nate Mountain, Peter Morris, Wes Porter, Johnny Rogers and Yasin Sado. Asfaw finished fourth at the 2020 ACC Championships to receive all-conference honors. Johnson, Morris, Porter and Sado are the other Cavaliers who have raced at previous ACC Championships.
Virginia enters the race as the No. 11 team in the Southeast Region rankings of the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll. The two teams in the men’s field nationally ranked are No. 8 Notre Dame and No. 19 Florida State.
The Women’s Championship
The Virginia women’s lineup will feature Margot Appleton, Sophie Atkinson, Mia Barnett, Veronic Boire, Ellie Desmond, Lila Fenner, Taylor Jones, Gabby Karas, Helena Lindsay and Michaela Meyer.
Karas, Lindsay and Meyer have previous experience competing at the ACC meet. The women’s race features five ranked teams including No. 2 NC State, No. 10 Florida State, No. 13 North Carolina, No. 16 Syracuse and No. 21 Notre Dame. UVA is the No. 10 ranked team in the Southeast Region rankings in the USTFCCCA poll.
Last Year’s Championship
UVA finished fourth in the men’s 8k race at last year’s ACC Championships. Asfaw, Randy Neish and Harry Monroe each earned first-team All-ACC honors. Asfaw was UVA’s top finisher, placing fourth with a career-best time of 23:15.0 on the 8k course in Cary, N.C. Hannah Moran’s 18th-place finish led the UVA women’s team. She ran a career-best 20:39.4 on the 6k course. The Cavaliers were seventh in the women’s competition.