North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Men Look To Extend ACC Winning Streak
10/28/2005 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 28, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. - The last time someone other than NC State won the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Cross Country Championships, Bill Clinton was still in the White House and Philip Rivers was halfway through his freshman season as the Wolfpack's quarterback in football.
Dating back to 1995, the Wolfpack men have won nine ACC championships in cross country in 10 years, an unprecedented period of dominance. Heading into the 2005 ACC Cross Country Championships on Monday in Tallahassee, Fla., the Wolfpack's reign appears to be in jeopardy.
In its first real test of the 2005 season, October 15 at the NCAA Pre-Nationals, NC State ran 17th in the 33-team Blue race, trailing ACC rivals Virginia (6th) and Florida State (7th) by a wide margin.
To date, the Pre-National meet stands as the Wolfpack's only real test of the season, so the question still unanswered is whether the Pre-Nationals race was an accurate reflection of how good this year's NC State team is or simply a bad race by a much better team.
"I think it was a bad race, but the fact remains that the ACC meet is going to be a real challenge," Wolfpack head coach Rollie Geiger says. "Florida State runs really well up front and they're at home. Virginia runs really well as a group. They're both excellent cross country teams."
Redshirt-sophomore John Crews ran 53rd at Pre-Nationals to lead the Wolfpack. The rest of the NC State group was well behind. Redshirt-sophomore Stephen Furst was 82nd, redshirt-junior Bryce Ruiz was 90th, and no one else was in the top 100.
Crews, Furst and Ruiz will be in the lineup for NC State again on Monday, and will be joined by redshirt-sophomore Chris Kollar, redshirt-freshman Eric Mack, redshirt-junior Phillip Stafford, redshirt-freshman Fredy Torres, and redshirt-sophomore Tibor Veigh.
A year ago, NC State won the ACC title by a point over Florida State. Geiger notes that for various reasons, the five athletes who scored for the Wolfpack in that race are not in the lineup for this year's ACC Championships.
Geiger is not accustomed to facing this degree of uncertainty this late in the season. And even as he looks for his team to take a huge leap forward from its performance at Pre-Nationals, Geiger understands that his team faces a serious challenge.
"I expect this team to raise the level of their performance, and I really believe they will," Geiger says. "But we could run a really outstanding race and it might not be good enough to win."
The ACC Men's Cross Country Championships, an 8K race, will be held at 8:30 a.m. at the Miccosukee Greenway Park in Tallahassee. Fla.
