BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech cross country runner Peter Seufer became a back-to-back conference championship winner Friday morning, as Seufer blew away the field at the 2019 ACC Cross Country Championships held at the Buford Meredith Cross Country Course on Virginia Tech's campus.
Seufer, a redshirt senior from Lynchburg, Virginia, won the 2018 ACC title by out-sprinting Wake Forest's Zach Facioni to the finish line in the final 1,000 meters. There was no showdown this time around, as Seufer went straight to the front and ran away from the 134-runner field. He finished the 8K course in a time of 23 minutes, 42.7 seconds and won by a whopping 39 seconds over second-place finisher Yared Nuguse of Notre Dame.
"I don't think it's really set in that I actually got the win individually," Seufer said. "I don't think it was as exciting as last year, but it's amazing.
"I'm not the biggest fan of our home course, but these last couple of weeks, I got really excited going in and bouncing back after a somewhat disappointing race at Pre-Nats [19th at the Pre-National Invitational]. It was like, 'I feel like I'm just ready to attack it and leave nothing to chance.'"
"He's really impressive," Tech distance coach Eric Johannigmeier said. "He's a lot of fun to work with. When he's on, he's tough to beat, and he looked great today. I'm really excited for what he's going to do in the postseason."
Seufer became the second runner in Tech men's program history to claim two individual conference cross country titles. Louis Castagnola won back-to-back Southern Conference crowns in 1959-60. Seufer won Tech's 12th individual conference title overall.
Behind Seufer and All-ACC performances from Diego Zarate and Fitsum Seyoum, the Tech men's team finished in a tie for third in the conference standings. Syracuse won the league title with 68 points, followed by Notre Dame with 73 points and both the Hokies and Virginia with 100 points.
"I thought the men competed really tough and really well," Johannigmeier said. "It's an extremely tough conference – a lot of nationally ranked teams. Guys definitely went for it. They put it all out there. We had some really great performances and some where we went backward at the end, but overall, love the heart, love the effort, great day."
Zarate used a late kick to come in seventh place with a time of 24:36.4, while Seyoum was 11th with a time of 24:44.7. Antonio Lopez Segura finished 30th, while Jack Joyce (51st) rounded out the scoring for Tech.
On the women's side, Sara Freix led way, finishing second overall. The senior from Centreville, Virginia ran the 6K course in a time of 20:48.7, finishing 11 seconds behind winner Elly Henes of NC State.
"She's not afraid to run with those top girls," Johannigmeier said of Freix. "She's really running with a different mindset. She's not afraid of anyone, which is great, and certainly second place in the ACC is a great accomplishment. I think she knows she can run with some of the best."
Behind Freix and an All-ACC performance from graduate transfer Kyra Lopez, the Tech women came in fourth in the team race. NC State won the ACC title with 64 points, followed by Florida State (76), Notre Dame (116) and the Hokies (146).
"The women competed tough," Johannigmeier said. "Can't question the heart out there. Where some girls didn't race as well, other girls picked it up. That's been the MO of the girls team. They've done a good job of picking each other up when someone's having a rough day. Just some really impressive performances overall, and they've got nothing to be ashamed of."
Lopez was 15th with a time of 21:13.8, while Sarah Edwards came in 27th with a tie of 21:36.3. Ellie Brush (49th) and Grace Boone (58th) rounded out the scoring for the Hokies.
MEET NOTES
• The Tech men's cross country team finished in the top five at the ACC Championships for the 10th time since joining the league for the 2004-05 season and in the top three for the fourth time.
• The Tech women's cross country team finished in the top five of the league standings for the fourth consecutive season.
• Seufer earned All-ACC honors for the third consecutive year and joined Tommy Curtin as the only Tech runners to earn All-ACC honors on three occasions.
• Freix earned All-ACC honors for the second consecutive year and became the fourth two-time All-ACC honoree in program history (Katie Kennedy, Sarah Rapp, and Tasmin Fanning).
• Zarate and Seyoum earned All-ACC honors for the first time in their careers.
• Lopez Segura's time of 25:09.5 marked his career-best time at the 8K distance by 48 seconds.
COMMONWEALTH CLASH
Building on a tradition started in 1895, the Commonwealth Clash is a head-to-head points-based competition within the 22 varsity sports in which Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia compete against each other. At the end of the season, the institution with the most points is crowned the champion of the Commonwealth Clash. The competition between the Hokies and the Cavaliers is presented by Virginia529, the official college savings plan of Virginia Tech Athletics and the University of Virginia Athletics. To learn more about Virginia529 and the competition, please click here.
Even though Virginia Tech and Virginia tied in the men's standings at the ACC Cross Country Championships, the Hokies won the tiebreaker to secure the Commonwealth Clash point. The Tech women's team also secured a point, and the current score of the clash is 2.5-2 in favor of Virginia.
UP NEXT
Both squads return to the course this upcoming week at the final home meet of the season – the Hokie Open, which will be held Friday at the Buford Meredith Cross Country Course. The men's 6K race starts at 4:30 p.m., while the women's 4K race start at 5:10 p.m.Gallery: (11/1/2019) 2019 ACC CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
