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HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men's cross country team will look to pick up key NCAA qualifying points Saturday when the Panthers compete at the elite Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational in Earlysville, Va.
 
The Panthers will suit up for the prestigious 8k race at 10 a.m., with the women's 5k to follow at 10:45 a.m. The men's race features a strong field of competitors, including nationally-ranked foes No. 7 Virginia, No. 18 Furman and No. 20 Eastern Kentucky.
 
HPU – ranked No. 9 in the USTFCCCA Southeast regional poll – also will compete against a number of fellow regionally-ranked opponents. The list includes Eastern Michigan (No. 4 Great Lakes), Oklahoma (No. 6 Midwest), Yale (No. 7 Northeast), Auburn (No. 8 South), Wake Forest (No. 10 Southeast), Butler (No. 11 Great Lakes), Mississippi State (No. 14 South) and Liberty (No. 15 Southeast).
 
"We need good competition to see where we're at. I think the preparation has been excellent and our team wants to race against the best," head coach Mike Esposito said. "In addition to the nationally-ranked teams, there are several teams that are comparable to us on paper. We need to beat those teams for us to do what we want to do this season. We'll also get our first glimpse of Campbell and Liberty, so it's going to be an exciting day."
 
HPU took a three-week break from competition after opening the season with a victory at the Elon Invitational on Sept. 4. HPU took five of the top-8 spots in the race en route to the event crown.
 
Sophomore Ryan Udvadia led the way for the Panthers with a third-place finish. The 2014 Big South all-conference selection crossed the finish line in 18:45 to post his career best cross country finish (by position).
 
Junior Vinny Todaro – the 2015 Big South outdoor 1500m champion – took fourth just four seconds behind Udvadia (18:49). Todaro also posted his best cross country finish by position in an HPU uniform.
 
HPU has used the break from competition to work on some key group running elements heading into Panorama Farms.
 
"Consistency is something we've been harping on in primary workouts and I've been seeing that," Esposito said. "We haven't seen a lot of splintering like we have in the past. They've demonstrated a lot of maturity. I think Paddy [Grandinali] is at a whole different level than he's been at before and it's been exciting to see Chernet [Sisay], Vinny and Ryan make such significant progress from last year to this season. Now we need to transfer that to a high-level race."
 
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