Lavassas Makes History at NCAA South Regional Championships

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Miami cross country team completed the NCAA cross country south regional at the University of Florida in Gainesville Friday morning.

Junior runner Daphnee Lavassas posted a time of 18:49.7 in the women’s 6K, placing fifth and punching her ticket to the 2023 NCAA Division I National Championships in Charlottesville, Virginia, next week.

Lavassas’s time is not only her personal best but also the new Miami program record for the women’s 6K event, beating out Melanie Schultz’s time of 19:56.10, set in 2005. She also joins Schultz as the second woman in program history to qualify for a cross-country national championship.

Junior runner Austen Cannon led the Hurricanes men’s team with a final time of 30:31.1 in the men’s 10K, earning a new personal best and 58-second improvement on his 2022 10K time.

The Miami women’s team placed 14 in the south region with 391 team points, while the men finished 18 with 517 points.

Lavasssas will now travel north to Charlottesville, Virginia November 18 for the national championships, hosted by the University of Virginia at Panorama Farms.

The championships will be just the second time Virginia has hosted the event and the first time since the 1987 championships.

To stay up to date with the University of Miami cross-country team, follow @canestrack on Instagram, X, and Facebook.