STANFORD, Calif. — The postseason begins this week as the Stanford cross country team embarks on its second appearance at the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Cross Country Championships on Friday in Louisville, Ky.
Stanford hits the course beginning with the Women’s 6K Championship at 9:30 a.m. ET/ 6:30 a.m. PT followed by the Men’s 8K Championship at 10:30 a.m. ET/7:30 a.m. PT at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park.
Live results for Friday’s meet can be found here.
The Cardinal returns to the trails following a successful outing at one of the nation’s top cross country meets earning top finishes at the Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational. In a precursor to this weekend’s meet, the Stanford women nabbed eighth place overall with Sophia Kennedy leading the way individually for the Cardinal. Kennedy nabbed a time of 19:48.8 in her season debut, climbing positions through each of the 2000m splits to earn the top-10 finish. Following Kennedy, Hanne Thomsen and Mena Scatchard raced well with both placing inside the top-60 harriers.
On the men’s side, Stanford placed well with a 16th place finish overall. Leo Young led the way for Stanford for the second-consecutive meet, placing 32nd overall with a time of 23:48.6. Following Young, a quartet of Cardinal finished within an 11 second split as James Dargan, Evan Noonan, Byron Grevious and Josh Bell rounded out the scoring harriers for Stanford.
Stanford’s entries for the Women’s 6K Championship include Sophia Kennedy, Mena Scatchard, Hanne Thomsen, Riley Stewart, Julia Flynn, Maya De Brouwer, Juliette Whittaker, Ava Parekh and Hillary Studdert.
For the Men’s 8K Championship, Stanford enters Josh Bell, Toby Chippendale, James Dargan, Byron Grevious, Evan Noonan, Gavin Sherry, Nolan Topper, Quinn White and Leo Young.
LAST TIME AT ACC’S
Stanford placed well last season in its maiden debut at the ACC Championships, claiming runners-up in both the men’s and women’s championships at Wakemed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.
On the men’s side, Stanford mixed into the top-25 en route to 69 team points which sat nine back of ACC Champions Wake Forest (60 points). Leading the Cardinal leaderboard was Cole Sprout who claimed a fourth place finish in the event followed by Thomas Boyden and Lex Young who claimed top-12 placements. Stanford returns five runners who placed at last season’s championship led by Leo Young who finished in 23rd with a time of 23:05.3.
For the Cardinal women, the Cardinal placed second via a tiebreaker with North Carolina after Zofia Dudek nabbed the lone top-10 placement for the Cardinal. Stanford returns five harriers that raced in last season’s event including Sophia Kennedy who nabbed 11th overall with a time of 19:52.3. Other participants in last season’s edition that can earn a crack at an ACC title on Friday include Riley Stewart, Julia Flynn, Juliette Whittaker and Hillary Studdert.
THE FIELD
On the men’s side, No. 27 Stanford ranks seventh among ACC teams that are currently ranked in the latest USTFCCCA DI Men’s National Coaches’ Poll. Leading the charge at Friday’s 18-team meet is No. 4 Virginia, followed by No. 6 Syracuse, No. 12 Wake Forest, No. 16 Notre Dame, No. 23 North Carolina and No. 27 Virginia Tech.
On the women’s side, No. 13 Stanford is among six teams that are currently ranked inside the top-30 nationally with No. 2 NC State headlining this Friday’s meet. Following the Wolfpack is No. 5 Notre Dame, Stanford, No. 15 Virginia, No. 28 Wake Forest and No. 30 Boston College.