Virginia Primed for ACC Championships Friday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The Virginia men’s and women’s cross country programs are set to travel to Tallahassee, Fla. for the 2023 ACC Cross Country Championships on Friday (Oct. 27) hosted by Florida State. The men will kick things off with an 8k race with the starting gun set to go off at 8:40 a.m. The women will follow with a 6k race set to begin at 9:30 a.m.

How to Watch
The 2023 ACC Cross Country Championships will be streamed on ACC Network which is available through the ESPN app and at WatchESPN.com for customers who have the ACC Network as part of their TV subscription. Links to both the broadcast and live results are available at VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also get updates by following the program’s official Twitter account (@UVATFCC).

Rankings
The Cavalier women check in at No. 10 ahead of the ACC Championships while the Virginia men are ranked No. 16 in the latest USTFCCCA rankings. The ACC has boasted strong teams throughout the season as five men’s teams and five women’s teams are ranked nationally:

ACC Championships Notes 

• The UVA men have won the ACC title four times (1984, 2005, 2007, 2008)
• The Virginia women have been crowned champions on three occasions (1981, 1982, 2015)
• Virginia’s Margaret Groos won the first-ever ACC women’s cross country individual championship in 1978 – four Cavaliers have accomplished the feat since including Lesley Welch (1982), Patty Matava (1987) and Claire Forbes (1992)
• Two UVA men have been crowned ACC individual Champions including Ryan Foster (2008) and Emil Heineking (2009, 2010)
• The Cavalier women are coming off a top-three finish from a season ago while the men placed sixth
• Virginia’s mens team last placed in the top-five in 2020 when the team finished fourth
• The last time both Virginia teams cracked the top-five in the same season was in 2015—the women were crowned champions while the men placed third

Additional Notes

• Gary Martin has led the Cavaliers to the finish line in each of the last two meets placing 13th and 10th in two 8k races
• Margot Appleton has led the women in each of their last two meets placing third and fourth in a 5k and 6k race at Panorama Farms
• The UVA women have put together back-to-back third-place finishes in their last two meets
• Virginia’s men placed seventh at the Virginia Invitational and third at the XC23 Pre-National

The Smithfield Commonwealth Clash
The Smithfield Commonwealth Clash, originally called the Commonwealth Challenge (2005-2007), has been a part of the UVA-Virginia Tech rivalry since 2014. It is an all-sports, points-based program with the Commonwealth Clash trophy presented to the winning school each year for its dominance in head-to-head competitions.

In men’s and women’s cross country, the commonwealth clash point is awarded to the team that finishes higher at the ACC Championships. Virginia currently leads the competition by a margin of 2-0.