Today will be an unconventional day for the Florida cross country team. The team will split into two separate groups — one will compete at the Virginia Invitational and the other will head to Orlando to take part in the UCF Knights Invitational.
UVA
The UVA Invitational will begin in Charlottesville, Virginia, at 9:30 a.m. with 18 different programs competing.
Florida is sending its 16 best distance runners to Charlottesville while the rest of the team will compete at UCF. UVA will have more ranked teams competing and Florida will need its best runners to compete there, according to assistant coach Chris Solinsky.
This will mark the first time that the women’s team will have its top three runners compete in the same meet this season. Sophomore Imogen Barrett will return after recovering from getting her molars removed and then suffering from a sickness. Redshirt senior Elisabeth Bergh will also return from illness. Both runners admitted that they will not be 100 percent come Friday but will still compete.
Senior Jessica Pascoe, the reigning SEC Women’s Runner of the Year, will join Barrett and Bergh for the first time this season. Barrett and Bergh did not compete when Pascoe made her season debut at the Mountain Dew Invitational two weeks ago where she dominated the competition and led the team to a victory.
“It’s going to be exciting,” she said. “We’ve got a little bit of an idea of where the team’s at but adding those two… we’re going to get a real idea of how strong we can be this year.”
UCF
Eleven Gators (five women and six men) will run at the UCF Invitational, which begins at 6 p.m.
Originally, Solinsky had only scheduled the UCF Invitational for Friday, but once it became apparent that the Gators were poised to have a breakout year, Solinsky decided to split the team and attend the UVA meet as well. He believes that it presents a great opportunity for some of his runners who aren’t showcased as much.
“I think the UCF meet is just as important as the UVA meet. Maybe even a little bit more,” Solinsky said. “It provides opportunities for people to prove to themselves, to their teammates and to me why they deserve to be on the travel trips later.”
Contact Joseph Salvador at jsalvador@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @JSalvadorSports
