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BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech cross country teams leave Thursday for Charlottesville, where both squads will be competing at the NCAA Southeast Regional meet held Friday at Panorama Farms in Earlysville, Virginia.

Both teams are looking to finish in the top two of the team standings at the regional meet to get an automatic berth into the NCAA Championships, which will be held Nov. 21 in Louisville, Kentucky. Squads that don’t receive an automatic berth must wait until an NCAA selection committee chooses the at-large berths.

Led by ACC individual champion Thomas Curtin, the Tech men’s team goes into the regional meet ranked No. 18 nationally according to the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association national poll. But the Hokies will face stiff competition in the form of NC State and Virginia, both of which are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, by the USTFCCCA in the Southeast Region. The Hokies are ranked fourth in the region behind Furman.

“I think we’re ready to go,” Tech cross country coach Ben Thomas said. “The men didn’t have a great race at the ACCs, but we know this course very well. It’s similar to our home course here. I know that Tommy is ready to go, and I feel like we’re had our four and five runners step up. So if we can get our two and three runners back to where they were at Pre-Nats, we’ll be back in business to get one of those top two spots. Those are automatic spots for nationals, so that’s what we’ve got to go for.”

The Tech men finished in fourth place at the ACC Championships in the team race behind winner Syracuse, NC State and Virginia. Curtin set a course record in winning the individual title and is looking for his third straight victory.

The Tech women finished in eighth place at the ACC Championships, but the young Hokies are ranked sixth in the region by the USTFCCCA and looking for big things at the Southeast Regional.

Abigail Motley and Katie Kennedy lead the way for the Tech women. Motley led all Tech finishers at the ACC Championships, coming in 37^th, while Kennedy finished 39^th. Kennedy was the Hokies’ top finisher at the NCAA Pre-National meet on Oct. 17, coming in 104^th.

The NCAA Southeast Regional begins at noon with the women’s 6k race. The men’s 10k race starts at approximately 1 p.m. Fans can follow on live stats by clicking here.

For updates on Virginia Tech cross country, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_Track