North Carolina State University Athletics
Cross Country Takes To The Trail This Weekend
9/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 13, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. -
The 2005 cross country season gets underway for NC State on Saturday, September 17, with the running of the Raleigh Invitational at the SAS cross country complex in Cary. The season will continue a week later at SAS with the Great American Cross Country Championships.
Cross country season is championship season for NC State. The Wolfpack has dominated the Atlantic Coast Conference in cross country, the men for more than a decade and the women for nearly three decades. Head coach Rollie Geiger and associate head coach Laurie Henes continue to develop top-flight runners, including nine All-Americans and 36 All-ACC runners in the last five years alone.
In fact, since Geiger arrived in Raleigh in 1978, NC State has won 32 conference championships in cross country (20 women's and 12 men's), including five dual championships, and produced 139 All-ACC runners and 58 All-Americans. Eight times in the last 20 years, the Wolfpack men finished in the national top 10. The women have 15 top 10 finishes in the last 28 years, including two national championships.
With a combined seven men's and women's Atlantic Coast Conference championships in the last five years, including dual conference championships in 2001 and 2003, plus three national top 10 finishes, NC State's cross country program ranks among the nation's elite.
A year ago, the NC State women finished 12th nationally, but were joined in the national limelight by three other ACC teams -- Duke (2nd), North Carolina (10th) and Wake Forest (19th). All four teams return most of their top performers from last season, meaning that all four should be among the nation's best in 2005.
"I don't know what the preseason rankings say, but an accurate poll would probably have all four of us in the top 12," Henes said. "I think we have four teams in our conference that could be ranked that high, maybe four of the top 10. I think the ACC is that good."
NC State once again should rank among the nation's best in 2005, but may be shorthanded in its pursuit of ACC and national honors. Senior Julia Lucas, who was the Wolfpack's undisputed No. 1 runner a year ago, may not be available after suffering first- and second-degree burns on her right leg and arm during a house fire in August.
Losing Lucas would be a blow. She not only led NC State in each of the last four races of the season, she also won All-America honors at 5000 meters in track and field last spring.
Lucas has made rapid progress in her comeback, but holding her out of competition this year and bringing her back as a fifth-year senior in 2006 is a strong possibility. That decision won't be made before the Pre-National Meet on October 15.
"We're just going to wait and see what happens," Henes said. "She has second-degree burns all the way from the ankle to the knee of her right leg, and she had first-degree burns on her arm. We're just going to wait and see before we make a decision about possibly redshirting her. We wouldn't even consider racing her before the midpoint of the season, and it would take a lot for us to line her up at Pre-Nationals."
Even assuming Lucas sits out the season, the Wolfpack figures to be strong once again in 2005, strong enough to reach the program's three goals of winning the conference championship, qualifying for the NCAA Championships, and finishing in the top 10 nationally.
Graduated seniors Josianne Lauber and Erin Swain must be replaced, but NC State has a strong group of returning runners, beginning with senior Kris Roth, who finished second for the Wolfpack in all three postseason matches last fall -- the ACC Championships, the NCAA District III Championships, and the NCAA Championships. She is a two-time all-conference performer in cross country, and was an NCAA qualifier in indoor track this past winter.
Redshirt-senior Ginger Wheeler and true senior Abigail Nelkie both bring experience to the mix. Wheeler, who is technically a graduate student, ran for the Wolfpack in the NCAA Pre-Nationals and the District III Championships, while Nelkie ran at Pre-Nationals and the ACC Championships, and was the Pack's No. 2 runner behind Lucas at Pre-Nationals.
"Kris Roth, Abigail Nelkie and Ginger Wheeler are seniors who have contributed before," Henes said. "Kris is an all-conference runner and a proven performer. Ginger Wheeler was a regional qualifier on the track and a provisional qualifier at 10k. She's made huge jumps, and if they carry over to cross country, hopefully we can have a really small spread from 2-7, if not 1-7. We're very happy that she's coming back. Abigail Nelkie could really be a factor as well. She ran at ACCs and was our top finisher after Julia at the Pre-Nationals. Hopefully she'll stay at that level this year."
Three true freshmen -- Angelina Blackmon, Magin Kebert and Amy Kelly -- were among NC State's top seven runners in all three postseason races last year. Kebert was the Wolfpack's No. 4 runner at the ACC Championships, while Blackmon ran third for the Pack at the NCAA District III race. Kelly closed out the season on a high note when she was NC State's third runner at the NCAA Championships, one of the top freshmen in the race. As sophomorers, all three should be ready to make more significant and more consistent contributions now that they have successfully made the difficult transition from high school to the collegiate level.
"We bring back most of the nucleus of last year's team," Henes said. "Julia Lucas and Kris Roth were all-conference, both qualified for outdoor nationals, and Julia got her first All-America certificate. The freshmen we had last year -- Angelina Blackmon, Magin Kebert, Amy Kelly -- had a bit of a tough adjustment, but we're counting on them to fill those gaps. Amy Kelly was the third or fourth American freshman at nationals last year. She was 95th, which doesn't sound like much but it's very good for a freshman. And Angelina and Megan were regional qualifiers for us on the track as true freshmen, and both scored in the ACC meet on the track, which is really hard to do. So those three should be able to step up and fill that void left by Josianne and Erin's graduation."
Redshirt-sophomore Sarah Powell, who was in the Pack's top five as a freshman two years ago, will try to bounce back from an injury-plagued 2004 season, and redshirt-sophomore Jennifer Boyd, redshirt-junior Kelly Brown and redshirt-senior Michelle Popple have experience and will look to make more significant contributions this season.
The Wolfpack received a major boost with the transfer of junior Jemissa Hess from High Point University. Hess, an All-American in indoor track last winter and an NCAA qualifier in the spring, was the first cross country runner ever from High Point to run at the NCAA Championships. At the NCAA District III Championships, only Lucas among the NC State contingent finished ahead of Hess, who should make a major impact for the Wolfpack this season.
"Jemissa would have been our No. 2 athlete at regionals last year," Henes said. "She finished right in front of Kris Roth. She's a really big addition. Kebert, Blackmon and Kelly, our three freshmen a year ago, are a lot better this year, but adding Jemissa is the big difference for us."
NC State signed just one freshman for this season, but Brittany Tinsley is good enough to contribute as a first-year performer.
"Brittany was fifth at the national Foot Locker Cross Country finals, so she's someone who could step in and make an immediate impact, but it will be a big adjustment," Henes said. "She's definitely at that level where she could help us immediately."
NC State heads into the 2005 season having not won a conference championship since 2002. That may not sound like a long time, but for this proud and tradition-rich program, two years without a championship is nearly unprecedented. The only other time in the history of the program that NC State's women went back-to-back years without winning the ACC championship was 23 years ago, 1981 and '82.
The Wolfpack's current two-year absence from the winner's circle is a by-product of vastly improved competition from within the league. All available evidence says that NC State's women's cross country program is as strong as ever. The Pack ran second in the conference two years ago, then finished sixth at the NCAA Championships, the women's second top 10 finish in four years. A year ago, they were third in the ACC, then took 12th at the national meet with three true freshmen in the lineup. The women's average finish at the NCAA Championships the last 10 years has been 12.2.
"Our first major goal is winning the conference, and the conference has changed quite a bit over the last few years," Henes said. "It's extremely strong and it will be again this year. I think that in particular, our seniors, who have been here that amount of time and truly understand it, they really, really want to win [the conference] again. They also realize that there may be four ACC teams in the national top 10 and that the season isn't just the ACC meet. They want that championship back -- it's a huge goal for them -- but they also want to run well for nationals and not just focus too much on the conference."
