Cross Country Sweeps Virginia Invitational

Saturday, September 14

Charlottesville, Va.

TBA

North Carolina

Virginia Invitational

September 14, 2024 | Cross Country

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of North Carolina cross country teams posted their second straight sweep of the season, with both men and women winning the Virginia Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 14.

The men's team earned 31 points to tie with Virginia, but then won based on the head-to-head score of each team's top-five finishers. The women's team scored 23 points, winning outright.

This is the first time the Tar Heels have opened with back-to-back sweeps for both squads since 2022, when they each swept the Charlotte Opener and the Coaching Tree Invitational.

Men's Race
The Tar Heels battled from the starting gun with the University of Virginia Cavaliers. Senior Ethan Strand fought off Cavalier runners the entire 8K race. After a great kick down the final stretch, Strand won the race by nearly 10 seconds.

But, as a team, Virginia had an early lead. After passing the 3K marker though, the Tar Heels started to cut into that. Coming out of the 4K marker, the Tar Heels grabbed a two-point lead.

UNC stayed stride-for-stride with UVA the entire remainder of the course with Colton Sands, Will Coogan and Patrick Anderson finishing in the top ten, going five, six and eight. Jacob Laney closed out the scoring in 12th place. The win is even more impressive since senior Parker Wolfe did not run.

"Today was a great start for our guys," head coach Chris Miltenberg said. "This course is hard. Virginia is a good team. For us to come out and tie them and then beat them on the tiebreaker without Parker is a great sign for where our young guys are at."

Women's Race
The Tar Heels and Cavaliers clashed for another close race. Brynn Brown and Fatima Alanis crossed the 2K marker within tenths of a second behind a pair of UVA runners. But the Tar Heels pulled ahead before the 4K marker, with Brown and Alanis going on to claim the first two spots on the podium.

Also performing well were Ciara O'Shea and Sydney Masciarelli, who moved into sixth and eighth before the 4K marker.

During the home stretch, the scoring Tar Heels closed the gap with the UVA runners for a strong team win. O'Shea finished in fifth, Eva Klingbeil and Taryn Parks finished in eighth and ninth, respectively, while Masciarelli closed out the top ten.

"I'm super excited with our women's race," Miltenberg said. "It was definitely the best we have executed in over a year as a team... I thought our women did an incredible job of running the heck out of the second half of the race, closing down gaps, and pulling each other forward together."

UP NEXT
The Tar Heels will travel to Wisconsin for the Nuttycombe Invitational on Friday, Sept. 27.

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES
North Carolina, 23
Virginia, 33
Norfolk State, 96
Alabama-Huntsville, 100

MEN'S TEAM SCORES
North Carolina, 31
Virginia, 31
Alabama-Huntsville, 87
Norfolk State, 95

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