Jan Foerster Named ACC performer of the week
Fresh off strong finishes at the NCAA Pre-National meet last weekend, the Virginia men\'s and women\'s cross country teams have both been ranked in the top-20 national polls. The men are 18th in the Mondo Poll while the women are 19th in the FinishLynx Poll which represents the first time in school history that both programs have been in the top-20 at the same time. In addition, Virginia\'s Jan Foerster was named the ACC Cross Country Performer of the Week after leading the Cavaliers to a sixth place finish, including upsetting four teams ranked ahead of UVa.
Foerster ran 24:23, taking 34th overall and leading a pack of five Virginia men separated by only 26 seconds. On the strength of the pack, the Cavaliers upset conference rival Florida State (then-#17) as well as then-#10 Cal Poly, #18 Ohio State, and #21 Indiana. The NCAA Pre-Nationals race was Foerster\'s first race as a Cavalier harrier. He is the second Virginia men\'s athlete to be named ACC Cross Country Performer of the week, as Soeren Lindner earned the honor on September 12.
With the #18 ranking, the Virginia men are the top-ranked men\'s team in the ACC.
The women also moved up after upsetting then-#21 Butler en route to an eighth place finish at the Pre-Nationals meet. The Cavaliers have now defeated both #27 Butler and #28 Georgia this year. Virginia is led by Emily Harrison and Kara Scanlin, a pair of All-Regional performers who both made an immediate impact on the program in their first year. Both Harrison and Scanlin earned All-ACC and All-Regional honors in their respective first-years.
The Cavaliers will train for the next couple of weeks leading up to the ACC meet on Oct. 31 in Tallahassee, FL.