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SENECA, S.C. – The Virginia Tech men’s cross country team placed second out of 12 teams and the women finished fourth of 12 teams at the Clemson Invitational today at Musser Farms. The meet gave the Hokies a chance to preview this year’s ACC Championship course, as the conference meet is back at Clemson on Oct. 29.

The men tallied 75 points while the women finished with 120 points. Host Clemson won the women’s team race with 45 points and Florida State took the men’s title with 28 points.

“I was pleased that we were able to get a good feel for the course,” said Tech head cross country coach Ben Thomas. “We set goals today for both the men and women to finish as a group and we got a strong effort from both teams. The weather was nice and cool and we found the course to be similar to our home course, so I’m excited for the conference meet in October.”

The first six Hokie men to finish all crossed the line within one second of each other, occupying places 14 through 19 overall. Junior Ryan Hagen lead the way with a time of 24:46.39 for the eight kilometer course. He was followed by junior Jason Cusack (24:46.39), redshirt sophomore Jared Berman (24:46.50), redshirt junior Will Mulherin (24:46.58), sophomore Grant Pollock (24:46.60) and redshirt junior Michael Hammond (24:47.17).

“The goal for the men today was to finish as a group of nine,” said Thomas. “We had a group of six finish as a pack and our nine-man spread was only 14 seconds. They did a really nice job and felt pretty relaxed.”

The women also finished as a strong pack, taking places 22 through 27 individually. Sophomore Taylor Crosson finished first for Tech in 21:50.32 over the six kilometer Musser Farms course. Crosson was then followed by freshman Sarah Rapp and sophomore Courtney Dobbs, who each clocked the same time of 21:50.42. Senior Sammy Dow (21:50.59), sophomore Alex Watt (21:50.61), sophomore Madalyn Nuckols (21:51.04) and sophomore Paige Kvartunas (32nd, 22:09.72) rounded-out Tech’s top-seven finishers.

“The women ran a little more conservative today and our goal was to finish as a group of seven. We had a nice pack of six and our seventh was right there," noted Thomas. "Today felt pretty easy for some of our top runners so that was a good sign. I think when I give them the green light to go hard from the start, we’ll have a good result.”

South Carolina Upstate’s Jemeli Sang won the women’s race in 20:42.88, while Ty McCormack of Clemson won the men’s individual title in 23:56.72. The field included 114 women and 132 men.

The Hokies return to action in two weeks on Friday, Sept. 30, as they will split the squad between two meets. Hokie runners will either compete on campus at the Virginia Tech Open at the Tech Cross Country Course or travel to Charlotte, N.C., for the Charlotte Invitational.

For updates on Virginia Tech cross country, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Track).