Appleton, Bushee Pick Up ACC Weekly Honors
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The Atlantic Coast Conference announced Tuesday (Sept. 26) that Virginia’s Margot Appleton and Gillian Bushee have been named the ACC Female and Freshman performers of the week following an impressive Cavalier performance at the Virginia Invitational.
Appleton was Virginia’s lead runner throughout the women’s 5k at the Virginia Invitational at Panorama Farms. In her first race of the season, the junior finished third overall clocking a time of 16:21.5. Appleton was just under three seconds off first place in a loaded field of competition that included 12 teams that qualified for the NCAA Championships in 2022.
In her first 5k collegiate cross country race, Bushee was the sixth Cavalier to cross the finish line. She clocked a 5k time of 17:16.8 to finish 60th overall. Bushee was the top finisher among ACC freshmen at the meet. Bushee picks up the first ACC honors of her collegiate career.
Virginia went on to place third in the team standings as the Cavaliers surged to the finish line going 3-19-23-27-51 to score a total of 123 points. The team posted an average time of 16:48.7 with a spread of 49.1 seconds. The Cavaliers finished behind only No.2 Northern Arizona and No. 9 Stanford.
Panorama Farms & XC23
Virginia will host the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday, November 18 at Panorama Farms. The 2023 championships will mark just the second time Virginia has hosted the event and the first time since the 1987 championships.
Following Virginia’s home opener, the Cavaliers will host the XC23 Pre-National (Oct. 14) which will serve as an opportunity for NCAA Division I teams from across the country to preview the course for the 2023 NCAA Championships.