BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Highlander cross country teams got their season underway at the Virginia Tech Relays with a fourth place finish by the men. 

The team of Dawitt Legesse (Springfield, Va.) and Joel Hanlon (Winchester, Va.) paced the Highlanders with a 19th place finish and a combined time of 53:45. Nathan Turner (Lynchburg, Va.) and Liam Arocho (Virginia Beach, Va.) placed 27th with a time of 58:17. Travis Willard (Christiansburg, Va.) and Eric Adams (Springfield, Va.) finished 30th to round out the field of Highlanders running a 61:00.

"Of course this is our second week of training so it was a good effort to get a general idea of our fitness," said coach Ann McGranahan. "The women's team has the potential to do very well this cross country season with consistent training. My athletes are responding well to the training in the short time I have worked with them so I'm excited to see what we can do eight weeks from now at conference."