BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech cross country teams left today to head to Boston for the most important meet of the season – the 2018 ACC Cross Country Championships being held Friday morning at historic Franklin Park.
MEET INFORMATION
Date: Friday, Oct. 26
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Course: Franklin Park (host is BC)
Times: women's race (10 a.m.); men's race (11 a.m.)
Distances: 6K (women), 8K (men)
Live results: click here
WATCH THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Men's 8K race – click here
Women's 6K race – click here
Both Tech squads are coming off strong performances at the Penn State National Open held Oct. 12 in State College, Pennsylvania. Peter Seufer led the men's team to an eighth-place finish out of 21 teams after he came in second, running the 8K course in a time of 24:49. Sara Freix paced the women's team, coming in sixth overall and guiding the Hokies to a 12th-place finish out of 28 teams.
TECH MEN'S TEAM NOTES
• The Tech men's team has finished in the top four at the ACC Championships in each of the past three seasons, including a second-place finish in 2017. The Hokies won the ACC title in 2012 – their lone ACC cross country title.
• This year's Tech roster features just one senior – redshirt senior Andrew Goldman – in the lineup. The Hokies' other senior, Diego Zarate, is taking a redshirt year in cross country while recovering from a hernia injury.
• Seufer is the lone returning All-ACC and All-Southeast Region runner on the men's team. He came in seventh at the ACC Championships in 2017.
• Seufer has been named Co-ACC Performer of the Week on two occasions this fall, including two weeks ago following his second-place finish at Penn State. He also received the honor after winning the men's 8K gold race at the Paul Short Run held at Lehigh University on Sept. 29.
• Seufer has competed in three meets this fall and been the top Tech men's finisher in all three. He has finished no worse than fifth in any of those meets.
• Fitsum Seyoum, a redshirt sophomore, has finished in the top 10 in two of the three meets that he has competed in this fall.
• Redshirt freshmen Ben Fleming and Bashir Mosavel-Lo each recorded top-50 finishes at the Penn State meet, with Mosavel-Lo coming in 44th overall and Fleming coming in 46th. Fleming owns two top-10 finishes so far this fall.
TECH WOMEN'S TEAM NOTES
• The Tech women's team has finished in third place at the ACC Championships in each of the past two seasons – the program's best finish ever.
• The Hokies' roster consists of just three seniors – Lauren Berman, Rachel Pocratsky and Shannon Quinn.
• Freix, a junior, and Berman anchor the lineup. Freix has finished in the top six in two of the three meets in which she has competed this fall, while Berman holds top-25 finishes in all three of the meets in which she has competed.
• Freix set a personal-best time for a 6K race at the Penn State National Open two weeks ago when she ran the course in 20:44.
• Kayla Richardson, a junior, is the Hokies' lone All-ACC returnee from last season. Richardson finished 20th at the ACC Championships in 2017, running the 6K course in a personal-best time of 20:46.8 – a time that still ranks as her career best.
• Two Hokies have won races this fall. Sarah Edwards, a junior who earned All-Southeast Region honors a year ago, won the Virginia Tech Alumni Invite, while redshirt freshman Emily Schiesl won the Hokie Invite (4K).