UVA Men Clinch NCAA Cross Country Championship Bid With 2nd Place Finish in Southeast Regional

The Virginia men's cross country team will advance to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2019.

Sophomore Justin Wachtel finished third overall and the Cavaliers placed five in the top 25 to just barely beat out ACC Champions Wake Forest for second place in the team standings at the NCAA Southeast Regional in Louisville to secure a bid to next week's NCAA Championships.

The Virginia women's cross country team placed third in the 6k race and will have to hope to earn an at-large bid from the selection committee, which will reveal the field for the NCAA Championship race on Saturday at 5pm on NCAA.com.

Wachtel led the way for the Cavaliers, crossing the finish line in 29:47.7, earning a 3rd-place overall finish in the men's 10k race. Fellow sophomore Derek Johnson placed 10th overall and then Yasin Sado, Rohann Asfaw, and Will Anthony placed 22nd, 23rd, and 25th, respectively, as Virginia had a score of 83 team points, topping Wake Forest (88) by just five points to pull the upset and secure the bid to the NCAA Championships. North Carolina took first place in the men's 10k to clinch the other automatic qualifier. Wachtel, Johnson, Sado, Asfaw, and Anthony earned all-region selections.

In the women's 6k, Virginia had three runners place in the top 25, led by sophomore Sophie Atkinson, who finished 13th in 20:36.3. Margot Appleton placed 16th and Mia Barnett finished 23rd. UVA had 109 points to finish third in the team standings behind North Carolina (76) and NC State (25). Atkinson, Appleton, and Barnett earned all-region selections.

If the UVA women earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships, it will mark the first time since 2015 that both of the Virginia men's and women's teams will advance to the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

The NCAA selection show will be on Saturday at 5pm. The 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships will take place on Saturday, November 19th in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

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