Hokie ClubTERRE HAUTE, IND. – The Virginia Tech men’s cross country team placed ninth out of 35 teams and the women finished 11th of 37 teams at the Indiana State Pre-National Invitational today on the LaVerne Gibson Championship Cross Country Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center. Redshirt junior Will Mulherin posted a strong finish of 16th overall in the men’s race for Tech.
The Hokie men scored 322 points as Colorado won the team title with 82 points. The women had 384 points as Florida State won the women’s team race with 46 points.
Leading the way for the men was Mulherin, who finished 16th overall out of 296 total runners in a time of 24:32 for the eight kilometer course. He was followed by redshirt junior Michael Hammond in 50th (25:11) and freshman Brayden Burleigh in 62nd (25:19). Junior Jason Cusack (95th, 25:41) and redshirt sophomore Jared Berman (106th, 25:47) rounded out Tech’s top-five.
Junior Joseph Murray (119th, 25:51), sophomore Leoule Degfae (146th, 26:06), junior Ryan Hagen (148th, 26:08) and sophomore Grant Pollock (189th, 26:36) also competed for Tech.
Freshman Sarah Rapp crossed the line first for the women as she was 42nd overall in a time of 21:47 for the six kilometer race. Sophomore Madalyn Nuckols was second to finish for Tech, placing 74th in 22:12. Sophomores Paige Kvartunas (91st, 22:26) and Alex Watt (95th, 22:29) finished close together while classmates Courtney Dobbs (101st) and Taylor Crosson (102nd) each finished with the same time of 22:33. Senior Sammy Dow was Tech’s seventh finisher and 160th overall in 23:20. 303 runners competed in the women’s race.
The Pre-National field included 10 ranked teams, according to the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) top-30 national poll, including six on the men’s side (No. 5 Iona, No. 7 Indiana, No. 8 Colorado, No. 11 Florida State, No. 12 Portland and No. 29 Eastern Kentucky) and four on the women’s side (No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Colorado, No. 5 Geogetown and No. 18 Michigan).
Iona’s Leonard Korir won the men’s race in 23:55 and Risper Kimaiyo of UTEP won the women’s race in 20:19.
Indiana State and the LaVerne Gibson Championship Cross Country Course are the host of the this year’s NCAA Division I National Championship Meet held on Nov. 21.
This was the Hokies’ final tune-up prior to the ACC Championships, which will be run on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Musser Farms in Clemson, S.C.