Tech men's cross country team ready for NCAA Championships

The Hokies, ranked No. 9 nationally, made the field for the seventh time in program history and will be competing Saturday morning on a familiar course

November 17, 2017

BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech men’s cross country team departed town on Thursday to head to Louisville, Kentucky – the site of the 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships.

The meet will be held Saturday morning at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park outside of downtown Louisville. The Hokies, ranked No. 9 nationally in the latest United States Track and Field and cross Country Coaches Association national poll, certainly go into the meet plenty of knowledge of the course. Tech has participated in three meets already at this course during this fall season (Louisville Sports Commission Cross Country Classic, Adidas Pre-National Invitational, and ACC Championships).

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Tech is one of 31 teams competing in the field and earned one of 18 automatic qualifying spots by virtue of its second-place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional this past Saturday. Also, 38 runners qualified individually for the NCAA Championships.

Tech is one of four men’s ACC teams competing at the meet. Syracuse, which won the ACC title, also earned an automatic bid, while NC State and Virginia received at-large berths.

The Hokies are participating at the NCAA Championships for the seventh time as a program. Tech qualified in 1969 and 1970 and twice in the 1980s (1982 and 1987). The Hokies have qualified three times in the past six seasons (2012, 2015 and 2017). The program’s best finish came in 1987 when the Hokies finished fourth.

Tech heads into the meet led by All-Southeast Region performers Peter Seufer, Daniel Jaskowak and Patrick Joseph. Seufer paced the Hokies at Saturday’s meet outside of Charlottesville by coming in ninth, while Jaskowak came in 10th. Joseph finished 21st, as he and Jaskowak earned all-region honors for the second time in their careers. Seufer took home All-Southeast Region honors for the first time.

Other members of the Tech men’s lineup include Diego Zarate, who came in 32nd at the regional meet, and Jack Joyce, who finished 37th. Both set career-best times at the 10K distance at the regional meet. Also, Vincent Ciattei and Neil Gourley were 42nd and 44th, respectively, giving the Hokies seven top-50 finishes.

The NCAA Championships begin with the women’s 6K race at 9 on Saturday morning, followed by the men’s 10K race at 10. Live coverage of the race will be available with a subscription to FloTrack, with results available on NCAA.com.

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