Virginia Sweeps Spider Alumni Open as Bendtsen and Kermes Record Wins

RICHMOND, Va. – The No. 6 and No. 20 ranked Virginia men’s and women’s cross country programs kicked off the 2025 season with a pair of victories at the Spider Alumni Open on Saturday (Aug. 30) at Pole Green Park in Richmond, Va. The Cavaliers were led by individual victories by Nicholas Bendtsen in the men’s 6k and Stella Kermes in the women’s 4k to mark the third consecutive year in which Virginia swept the meet.

The day began with a men’s 6k race that was dominated by a pack of Virginia runners from start to finish. The Virginia men took five of the top six spots in the race while finishing atop the team standings with 16 points. The quartet of seniors including Nicholas Bendtsen, Justin Wachtel, Andrew Jones and Will Daley all finished within 0.1 of each other. Former Princeton Tiger, Bendtsen crossed the line first clocking 17:57.6. The reigning meet champion, Wachtel crossed the line in second place with his time of 17:57.7. Right on their heels, Jones and Daley rounded out the top four finishers crossing the line in 17:57.8 and 17:57.9.

Junior Richard Moreno was also in the mix recording a sixth-place finish with his time of 18:10.1. Cayden Dyer (18:30.4), Charles Perry (19:01.9) and Alex Valencia (19:44.4) also opened their season in the 6k race in Richmond.

On the women’s side, sophomore Stella Kermes secured the victory with her time of 13:17.3 and bettered her season opener from this meet last year where she crossed the line in 13:56.9 for 10th place. Junior Mary Ellen Eudaly and sophomore Ella Woehlcke rounded out the top three finishers crossing the line in 13:20.0 and 13:26.1, respectively. The Cavaliers occupied six of the top ten spots as Cate DeSousa (13:57.7), Tatum Olesen (13:38.2) and Katie Payne (13:40.8) finished in fifth, seventh and eighth place.

Junior Clark Stewart (14:09.6) and senior Katie Dorsey (14:10.5) opened their seasons with top 20 performances in 14^th and 16^th place. With all eight athletes finishing in the top 20, the Virginia women finished atop the team standings with a total of 18 points.

The Virginia men’s and women’s cross country teams carry on their winning ways at the Spider Alumni open as Caroline Timm and Yasin Sado earned the victory in 2023 while Gillian Bushee and Wachtel ran away with the title in 2024.

Up Next
The Virginia men’s and women’s cross country teams will host the 2025 Virginia Invitational at Panorama Farms on Friday, September 12th. The men’s 8k race is set to begin at 8:45 a.m. with the women’s 5k race going off at 9:30 a.m.