Jessica Fanning is the only Hokie to finish in the top-ten
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Virginia Tech women's cross country team claimed sixth place while the Hokie men finished tenth in the 31 team field at the Chile Pepper Invitational hosted Arkansas today.Freshman Jessica Fanning (Charlottesville, Va.) was the first Hokie to cross the finish line in the six kilometer women's race in eighth place out of the 245 runner field with a time of 21:04.7. Fanning had the only Tech top-ten finish of the day.
Senior Jessica Morris (Coatesville, Pa.) ran the course in 21:28.9 for a 13th place finish. Freshman Natalie Sherbak (Virginia Beach, Va), the Hokies third finisher in the meet, took 24th place in her collegiate debut.
Sophomore Jenn Dietz (Springfield, Va.) came in 80th and senior Holly Hunter (Fairmont, WVa.) was 91st. Freshman Jessica Erickson (Herndon, Va.) took 137th place while junior Katie Danyko (Sterling Hts., Mich.) came in 172nd.
Southern Methodist University's women's team, ranked No. 11 by the FinishLynx national poll, took top team honors with 67 points. No. 21 Arkansas was second with 76 points and Wyoming finished in third place.
Oklahoma grabbed fourth, University of Alabama at Birmingham finished fifth and the Hokies were sixth with 216 points. Texas Christian University, Loyola University and Kansas State were seventh, eighth and ninth.
The Hokie women did beat Georgia Tech, the only other Atlantic Coast Conference cross country team. The Yellow Jackets finished in 13th place with 340 points.
Senior David Atkiss (Hatfield, Pa.) was the top Tech finisher in the men's 10 kilometer race. He was 27th in the 254 runner field with a time of 30:56.3.
Freshman James Scheiner (Centreville, Va.), Tech's second finisher, had a time of 31:57.7 for 65th place. Senior Michael Lawson (Foster, R.I.) was the 74th finisher and freshman Billy Berlin (Midlothian, Va.) grabbed 79th place.
Freshman Rider Clauss (Madison, Wisc.), sophomore Christian Barlow (Springfield, Pa.) and freshman Andrew Montgomery (Falls Church, Va.) were 83rd, 86th and 88th, respectively.
The No. 3 Arkansas men's squad, according to the Mondo national poll, won the team scoring with 33 points. Arkansas' alumni team took second place with 80 points and Rice University was third with 183 points.
Louisiana State University claimed fourth place, Loyola was fifth and Stephen F. Austin took sixth place. Baylor, Oklahoma and No. 19 Oklahoma State finished in seventh through ninth places, respectively. The Hokies had 328 points for tenth place.
The Hokie men also beat Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets had 379 points for 14th place.
Virginia Tech has a week off from competition to train for its first-ever ACC Cross Country Championships on Saturday, October 30 in College Park, Md.