Mountaineers Cap Competitors at Virginia Invitational

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.  – The App State males’s and ladies’s cross nation groups wrapped competitors on the Virginia Invitational on Friday. The males’s crew positioned third with 88 factors, whereas the ladies completed sixth within the crew standings with 141 factors.
 
For a second consecutive race, sophomore Thomas Wlazlowski was the primary Mountaineer to cross the end line, clocking an 8K time of 24:58.1 to put tenth. His time was 13 seconds shy of his private better of 24:45.6, which he set on the 2024 Joe Piane Invitational. Senior Ethan Lipham positioned eleventh with a time of 24:59.4. Redshirt senior Chase Burrell and freshman Tate Shore completed nineteenth (25:10.8) and twenty first (25:12.7, PR), respectively. Thomas Ashley and sophomore Henry Stark rounded out the highest 30 with occasions of 25:19.4 (PR) and 25:20.9. In his debut within the Black and Gold, freshman Bryant Young clocked an 8K private better of 25:30.6 to put thirty second.
 
“The guys got into groups and worked on racing together. We did not do a great job at the home meet of running together, so we have been working on it,” stated males’s distance coach Brad Herbster. “Wlazlowski and Lipham ran tough, as did Burrell and Shore. Ashley had a nice improvement, it was good to get Stark back in the team mix, and Young had a good first 8K. We have three weeks to make adjustments and improve before the next race at home.”
 
In the ladies’s 5K, freshman Elizabeth McCart set tempo for the Mountaineers, clocking a time of 18:06.1 to enhance her private finest by 36 seconds and place twenty first total. Sophomore Breanna Budzinski took twenty fourth after stopping the clock at 18:09.3. Freshman Josie Jackson (18:20.6), sophomore Savanah Moore (18:26.2, PR), and freshmen Ashby Williams (18:28.5) and Tessa Massa (18:31.2, PR) rounded out the highest 40.

“Today was a great opportunity to preview the course that we will run at the NCAA Southeast Regional this season,” stated girls’s distance coach Annie Richards. “I was impressed with how our team ran as a pack throughout the race. McCart, Budzinski, and Jackson were strong as our first three runners for our team today. Our freshman continue to show up and score for our team, which is exciting for the future of the program.” 

 

Virginia’s Justin Wachtel received the lads’s race with a time of 23:52.6, whereas Virginia’s Gillian Bushee received the ladies’s race with a time of 16:39.9.

 

Up Next

The Mountaineers return to Boone for the Firetower Project Run on Oct. 3. The males’s 8K is scheduled for five p.m., with the ladies’s 6K to comply with at 5:40 p.m.

 

Virginia Invitational Team Standings

Men’s Team Standings

1.Virginia – 18 factors

2. Johns Hopkins – 59 factors

3. App State – 88 factors

4. William & Mary – 103 factors

5. George Washington – 107 factors

6. Norfolk State – 162 factors

7. Western Michigan – 205 factors

8. Mary Washington – 250 factors

9. Howard – 265 factors

 

Women’s Team Standings

1.Virginia – 19 factors

2. William & Mary – 65 factors

3. Johns Hopkins – 77 factors

4. Richmond – 105 factors

5. George Washington – 116 factors

6. App State – 141 factors

7. Western Carolina – 240 factors

8. Howard – 246 factors

9. Norfolk State – 274 factors

10. Mary Washington – 292 factors