BLACKSBURG - The women’s cross country team raced its way to a second-place finish, while several men competed well unattached at the Virginia Tech Invitational hosted at the Virginia Tech Cross-Country Course.
The women ran a 4k, while the men ran a 6k. The women competed well, with two runners finishing in the top four. Katarina Smiljanec finished second with a time of 14:10.10, and Katherine Sheridan finished fourth with a time of 14:22.00. Amanda Smith and Ginny Jones both secured solid spots for the Hokies, finishing 10th and 11th , respectively, as well.
As a whole, the women’s team finished second just behind Wake Forest. The finish was a great one to start the season considering that several of the top runners did not compete in the race.
The men ran all their athletes unattached, with Andrew Gaiser finishing in a team best seventh position with a time of 19:14.80, while his teammate Ashkan Mohammdi finished right behind him in eighth with a time of 19:20.60.
Despite several of the top runners sitting out this meet, the unattached runners still managed to finish in second place right behind Wake Forest. The Hokies are back in action on Friday, Sept. 20, at 6 p.m. at the Tech Cross Country Course.
For updates on Virginia Tech cross country, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Track).