Five Hoos earn All Region Honors
The Virginia men\'s cross country team earned a berth in the 2005 NCAA Cross Country championships as a result of their second place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional. The bid is the first automatic qualification in school history. Virginia\'s Jan Foerster led the Cavaliers with his fourth place finish in 30:09.5. He earned All Region Honors along with teammates Ryan Foster(11th, 30:26.2), and Andrew Dumm(18th,30:39.8)
Two other Cavaliers, Emily Harrison (5th,20:12.6), and Kara Scanlin(7th,20:18.1) also earned all region honors and will at least receive individual bids to NCAAs.
Using their trademark discipline, the ACC Champion Cavalier men ran as a tight pack, with all five scorers separated by just 43 seconds. Soeren Lindner and Jeff Eggleston finished fourth and fifth for the Cavaliers, less than a second apart. The men finished second overall leading N.C. State 91 to 96.
\"I\'m very proud we achieved our goal of getting to NCAAs, said Head Coach Jason Dunn, we didn\'t run our best today, but we will have another opportunity at Nationals.\"
Behind Harrison and Scanlin, the injury stricken women finished third, upsetting both Wake Forest and UNC. The third place finish will likely earn the women an at large bid to Nationals. Virginias 3-4-5 runners, Laura Hodges(36,21:28.5), Lauretta Dezubay(45,21:35.7), and Jen Dolson(56th,21:55.0) - all finished within 27 seconds of each other. The women nipped Wake 149 to 151 while beating Carolina who had 180 Points. The at large bids will be made Monday, November 14th. Should the women get an at large bid as expected, it will be the first time in school history that both the men and the women have qualified at the same time.
The NCAA Championships will take place on Monday, November 21, 2005 in Terre Haute, Indiana