Cross Country: Bushee, Wachtel lead UVA to Spider Alumni Open sweep

The No. 23 and No. 17 ranked Virginia men’s and women’s cross country programs kicked off the 2024 season with a pair of victories at the Spider Alumni Open on Saturday in Richmond.

The Cavaliers were led by individual victories by Justin Wachtel in the men’s 6k and Gillian Bushee in the women’s 4k to mark the second consecutive year in which Virginia swept the meet.

The day began with a men’s 6k race that was dominated by a pack of Virginia runners from start to finish. The Virginia men took the top seven spots in the race while securing nine of the top 15 finishes. An upperclassman now, junior Justin Wachtel showed his experience running with the front pack and ultimately pulling away in the home stretch to take the victory.

Wachtel completed the course at Green Pole Park in 17:56.2 just ahead of his teammate and fellow junior, Andrew Jones in second with his time of 17:59.0. The two Cavaliers were the only two competitors in the field to record a time under 18 minutes for 6k. Senior Jack Eliason rounded out the top three finishers for the Cavaliers crossing the line in 18:02.9.

Also in the front pack of runners was the contingent of Jacob Hunter (18:20.2), Billy Atkinson (18:24.8), Aidan Cox (18:30.3) and Scott Sikorski (18:31.0). The quartet stuck together to run a controlled race and finish within 10 second of each other and round out the top seven finishers. The Virginia men finished atop the team standings tallying a total 16 points.

On the women’s side, sophomore Gillian Bushee secured the victory in her time of 13:31.1. Bushee led the charge for the Cavaliers followed by Tatum David (13:36.7), Cate DeSousa (13:45.7), Sophie Atkinson (13:49.4) and Sarah Peer (13:54.2) in third through sixth place.

Rounding out the top ten finishers were freshmen Stella Kermes (13:56.9) and Tatum Olesen (14:06.0) in eighth and 10th respectively. Virginia took nine of the top 15 spots with Ella Woehlcke (14:09.5) and Luci Ilnicki-Lambert (14:13.9) rounding it out in 12th and 15th.

Of the Cavalier women that finished in the top 10, three competed in the first cross country race of their career including Peer, Kermes and Olesen.  The Virginia women finished first among the team standings accumulating a total of 19 points.

The Virginia men’s and women’s cross country teams carry on their winning ways at the Spider Alumni open as Caroline Timm and Yasin Sado earned the victory at this meet one year ago.

Women’s Team Results (4k)
1. Virginia — 19
2. William & Mary — 57
3. Richmond — 102
4. George Mason — 152
5. James Madison — 175
6. American — 176
7. Longwood — 194
8. Hampton — 2o2
9. VCU — 225
10. VMI — 1272
11. Christopher Newport — 295
12. St. Mary’s (Md.) — 375
13. Mary Washington — 392
14. Virginia Wesleyan 429

Men’s Team Results (6k)
1. Virginia — 15
2. American — 67
3. William & Mary — 80
4. Richmond — 83
5. VMI — 170
6. Christopher Newport — 200
7. George Mason — 205
8. VCU — 207
9. Longwood — 229
10. Mary Washington — 288
11. St. Mary’s (Md.) — 354
12. Virginia Wesleyan — 400
13. Patrick & Henry CC — 402
14. Regent University — 422

The Virginia men’s and women’s cross country teams will host the 2024 Virginia Invitational at Panorama Farms on Saturday, September 14th. The men’s 8k race is set to begin at 8:45 a.m. with the women’s 5k race going off at 9:30 a.m.