Last year UVa placed well ahead of us in both the Men's and Women's races at the ACC Championships. That gave them 2 points in the Commonwealth Clash. We might be able to improve the results this year. It should be noted that we have not won the Clash when behind after the fall events (Football, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross-country and women's volleyball).
On the women's side, there was a major meet last week at Notre Dame. Five of the Top-7 and eleven of the Top-30 teams in the country were there. We finished 15th, UVa was 22nd (out of 25 teams). We return nine out of our top ten runners from last year and also picked up a transfer from Duke. The Hoos return six out of ten and also picked up a transfer. We each were missing one of our top five runners at the Notre Dame meet; no idea why.

The men also ran at Notre Dame, finishing 19th out of 23 teams. The good news: UVa was 21st. The Men's field wasn't as strong but still had ten of the Top-30 teams represented. It is hard to get a read on the UVa team since they only lost one of their top ten runners from a team that easily beat us at the ACC Championships last year while we lost three of out top ten including our #2 and #4 runners. UVa's 3 through 6 runners from last year did not run at Notre Dame.

There is little information available for minor sports such as cross-country. Runners may be injured, taking a red-shirt season or may be at a point in their training where they are better served by not running. The only meets that matter are the ACC Championships and the NCAA meets (9 regional championships and one overall championship). We have no chance of winning any type of championship, we can only hope to beat out the Hoos. I would consider a very good result if we can split the two points.