Cross Country: Appleton, Bushee earn ACC weekly recognition

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Posted on Tuesday, Sep. 26, 2023, 10:47 pm

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Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Photo: UVA Athletics

The Atlantic Coast Conference announced Tuesday that Virginia’s Margot Appleton and Gillian Bushee have been named the ACC Female and Freshman performers of the week, following an impressive Cavalier performance at the Virginia Invitational.

Appleton was Virginia’s lead runner throughout the women’s 5k at the Virginia Invitational at Panorama Farms. In her first race of the season, the junior finished third overall clocking a time of 16:21.5. Appleton was just under three seconds off first place in a loaded field of competition that included 12 teams that qualified for the NCAA Championships in 2022.

In her first 5k collegiate cross country race, Bushee was the sixth Cavalier to cross the finish line. She clocked a 5k time of 17:16.8 to finish 60th overall. Bushee was the top finisher among ACC freshmen at the meet. Bushee picks up the first ACC honors of her collegiate career.

Virginia went on to place third in the team standings as the Cavaliers surged to the finish line going 3-19-23-27-51 to score a total of 123 points. The team posted an average time of 16:48.7 with a spread of 49.1 seconds. The Cavaliers finished behind only No. 2 Northern Arizona and No. 9 Stanford.