Excitement Builds As Pitt Heads To ACC Cross Country Championships On Friday

Friday, November 1

Blacksburg, VA

10:00 AM

Pitt

ACC Cross Country Championships

Excitement Builds As Pitt Heads To ACC Cross Country Championships On Friday

10/31/2019 12:34:00 PM | Cross Country

ACC Tournament Central Live Results Video Stream (Men)Video Stream (Women)

PITTSBURGH – Following a strong close to the regular season, the University of Pittsburgh cross country teams will head to Blacksburg, Va. to compete in the ACC Cross Country Championships on Friday morning at Virginia Tech's Buford Meredith Cross Country Course. The men's 8K final will open things up at 10:01 am followed by the women's 6K final at 11:01 am.

HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG

Live results of the meet can be found HERE.
Watch live on ACC Network Extra. The men's race can be found HERE. The women's race can be found HERE.
Fans can follow @Pitt_TF_XC on Twitter to receive information as results are made available.
A meet recap and results will be posted on PittsburghPanthers.com following the completion of the meet.

WHAT'S ON THE LINE

The All-ACC Cross Country Teams will be composed of the top 21 finishers in each Conference Championship.
Team scoring is based on individuals' order of finish. The top seven finishers' scores count towards the team score.

COMPETING FOR THE PANTHERS

Set to compete for the Panthers on the women's side are Brenda Ayuk, Jenna Baltes, Caroline Bolen, Mary Borkoski, Ally Brunton, Katrina Durrwachter, Corinne Firestone, Sarah Frick, Maura Gallagher, Devon Hoernlein, Lily Robertson, Sam Shields.
Competing for the men are Evan Addison, Alex Brokaw, Nick Cardamone, Paul Ghantous, Josh Higgins, Zach Lefever, Jack Miller, Jackson Morton, Tyler Rollins, Nick Wolk.

SCOUTING THE FIELD

The ACC field will feature two women's teams among the USTFCCCA top 10 rankings following strong showings in a pair of national meets the weekend of Oct. 18-19. NC State moved up to No. 6 in the nation following a third-place finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Wisconsin. Florida State is No. 10 after placing fifth in the Pre-Nationals at Terre Haute, Indiana. No. 17 Notre Dame, No. 22 Virginia Tech and No. 27 Boston College give the ACC four nationally ranked teams on the women's side.
Six ACC men's teams are ranked, led by No. 20 Notre Dame. Florida State is No. 21, NC State and Virginia are tied at No. 23, Virginia Tech is No. 26 and Syracuse is No. 28.
Men's runners to watch include 2018 ACC champion Peter Seufer of Virginia Tech, defending his title on his home course. Wake Forest's Zach Facioni and Notre Dame's Yared Nuguse – last year's second- and third-place ACC finishers – also return for their respective teams.
Two of the top three ACC finishers from 2018 return on the women's side. NC State's Elly Henes, who earned the silver medal in ACC Championships last season, placed 14th at Nuttycombe Invitational on Oct. 18. Notre Dame's Anna Rohre, the 2016 ACC champion and 2018 ACC bronze medalist, was the league's top finisher at last year's NCAAs and led all ACC runners at the Nuttycombe Invitational with a 10th-place finish.

LAST SEASON AT THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS

Last season, both the men's and women's squads finished in 13^th place after a pair of 10^th place finishes in 2017.
Sam Shields led Pitt on the women's side, becoming just the second Panther to earn All-ACC recognition as she took home 16^th place in 20:54.0. Miranda Salvo and Natalie Hilton came in behind Shields in 66^th and 86^th place, respectively.
On the men's side, Nick Wolk was the top finisher for Pitt as he notched a 47^th place finish in 24:43.0. Zach Lefever and Brian Spolarich were the next Panthers to cross the line in 67^th and 87^th place, respectively.
Wolk and Shields also were selected for the All-ACC Academic Team a season ago.

LAST TIME OUT

The Panthers finished their regular season strong at the Arturo Barrios Invitational at Texas A&M (Oct. 19).
The men's team took home sixth place with a team score of 237. Senior captain Nick Wolk led the way with a ninth place overall finish in 23:55.6.
Junior Zach Lefever posted a strong 13th place finish in 24:05.8, while sophomore Evan Addison and juniors Josh Higgins and Nick Cardamone also posted top-100 finishes.
On the women's side, the team placed eighth in the 26-team field with a team score of 261.
Senior captain Sam Shields posted a 33rd place finish to lead Pitt as she crossed the finish line in 21:27.9. Junior Ally Brunton and sophomore Devon Hoernlein both posted top-50 finishes, coming in at 40th and 49th place, respectively.