Cross-country runners who graduated from high schools throughout Northern Virginia are included on rosters of many Division I women’s college teams across the commonwealth.
Some are among top collegiate performers, while others are striving to reach that status.
One of the top runners is Herndon High graduate Gillian Bushee, now a senior on the University of Virginia team. She was a Virginia High School League (VHSL) Class 6 state cross-country champion as a senior.
In college, Bushee has been a standout for the Cavaliers for three seasons. She recently closed the 2026 regular-season schedule by winning the 6K Panorama Farms Invitational meet near Charlottesville in 20:19.
The past two seasons, Bushee was chosen to the All-Southeast Regional teams for her performances. In the postseason last fall, she finished 10th in the NCAA Southeast Regional meet, 18th in the Atlantic Coast Conference and 70th in the NCAA championships.
In addition, Bushee opened the 2025 regular season by winning the Virginia Invitational.
Another top Virginia runner from the Northern Virginia is freshman and South Lakes High graduate Caroline Elliott. She finished 68th at that recent Panorama meet. Last fall, Elliott placed fourth in the VHSL Class 6 state meet.
The Virginia Tech women have four former Northern Virginia runners included on their 2026 roster. Two are seniors Lila Waters and Kenza Elakari. Waters, a Langley High grad, finished fifth at the Panorama meet (20:42) and Elakari, a graduate of West Springfield High, was 17th (21:23).
Two others are senior and Wakefield High graduate Elizabeth Coe and sophomore and Madison High grad Lydia Mikhin. Coe finished 22nd (21:49) at the Panorama meet and Mikhin was 39th (22:17). Those four runners helped Virginia Tech win the Panorama team title with Virginia second.
The College of William and Mary women have six runners from Northern Virginia schools, including sophomore Meghan Sullivan, once a teammate of Bushee’s at Herndon. She was fourth in the VHSL Class 6 state meet as a senior and ninth as a junior.
One of the team’s top runners is Bishop O’Connell High graduate Molly Weithman. The junior has been a regular top-20 finisher in regular-season meets. Weithman placed ninth in a recent 6K event in 21:25.
A top freshman for William and Mary is Oakton High graduate Caroline Sapperstein, the defending VHSL Class 6 state champion.
Others from Northern Virginia are junior Chloe Miller from West Springfield High, junior Celia Dawson from Woodson High and sophomore Madilyn Lewis from Lake Braddock. Miller has had at least three top 50 finishes so far this season for William and Mary.
Virginia Commonwealth University has seven Northern Virginia runners on its women’s team: one junior, five sophomores and a freshman.
The junior is Madelyn Anderson from Mountain View High. The sophomores are Obibah Leena from Fairfax High, Therese Johansson from Washington-Liberty, Allyson Hall from West Springfield, Madeleine Devlin from Woodson and Leah Burkee from Falls Church.
The freshman is Hannah Hawkins from Yorktown High, who last fall as a high-school senior helped that girls team place sixth in the Class 6 state meet with an 83rd-place finish individually.
Longwood University has three Northern Virginia runners — senior Kai Wheeler from West Springfield and freshmen Alexa Bergeson from Centreville and Haylie Walker from Hayfield.
The Radford University women have Independence High grad and freshman Thea Motes and Spotsylvania High grad and sophomore Allison Nelson on their roster.
The University of Richmond has freshman Aya Ryan from South Lakes, Virginia Military Institute has junior Natalia Dias from Colgan High, and Liberty University has sophomore Kate Loescher from Colonial Forge High.
Loescher won last fall’s Class 6 state championship and was second in the state in 2023.
