North Carolina State University Athletics
Cross Country Season Gets Serious At Notre Dame Invite
9/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
RALEIGH, N.C. Two weeks after what was a rain-drenched tuneup, NC State’s mens’ and women’s cross country teams dive head-first into the deep end of the pool Friday afternoon at the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind.
The Wolfpack men and women will run in the Blue Division races. The women will run at 4:15 p.m., followed by the men at 5 p.m. Both fields are loaded with ranked teams.
NC State's men won the Notre Dame Invitational a year ago, and the ninth-ranked Wolfpack is the top-ranked team in the men’s field in 2007. The Wolfpack will face significant challenges from Notre Dame (No. 12), Providence (No. 14), Brigham Young (No. 20), Florida State (No. 24) and Michigan (No. 25), as well as Butler, Eastern Michigan, Illinois and Texas A&M.
The Wolfpack men returns six of its top seven runners from Notre Dame a year ago, with only graduate senior Bryce Ruiz missing from a lineup that beat second-place Providence by 23 points. Ruiz was NC State’s top runner in South Bend last year, finishing 11th, but redshirt-seniors Stephen Furst (14th), John Crews (15th) and Wes Smith (16th) were just seconds behind Ruiz. Redshirt-senior Tibor Vegh, redshirt-junior Gavin Coombs and redshirt-senior Chris Kollar all placed in the top 40.
The Wolfpack lineup is so deep that Vegh will not be in the field for Notre Dame and will instead run with teammate redshirt-freshman Jason Morgan at the East Carolina Pirate Invitational in Greenville. Redshirt-senior Bobby Mack and redshirt-sophomores John Martinez and Robert Bedsole will fill out the NC State lineup for the Notre Dame Invitational.
“This is a really good field we’re going to face at Notre Dame,” men’s coach Rollie Geiger said. “We’ll learn a lot about our progam after this weekend, about where our fitness level is at this time. It’s early in the season, but this is a very competitive race and the guys are eager to compete at this level.”
On the women's side, NC State, currently ranked No. 16 nationally, finished second at Notre Dame a year ago, losing to Michigan. The Wolverines, currently ranked No. 2 nationally, again headline a star-studded field at Notre Dame for 2007, a field that also includes Illinois (No. 7), Providence (No. 11), Florida State (No. 12), Baylor (No. 22), Boston College (No. 26) and host Notre Dame (No. 27). Oklahoma State, Rice and Weber State are among the highly regarded but unranked teams in the women’s field.
NC State should be strong at the front of the women’s race. Sophomore Bona Jones finished fourth at Notre Dame a year ago, with junior Brittany Tinsley sixth and senior Angelina Blackmon 23rd. The key for the Wolfpack will be in getting strong performances from the fourth and fifth positions in the lineup.
The Wolfpack should have strong competition for those two spots, with redshirt-freshman Jenn Ennis, redshirt-junior and former all-conference performer Magin Kebert, sophomore Kara McKenna and freshman Colleen Wetherbee in the lineup.
“We’re ready to start the season,” women’s head coach Laurie Henes said. “We had the Raleigh Invitational two weeks ago, but Notre Dame is the first race where you can earn at-large points for the NCAA Championships. The kids have been training hard and they’re ready to run a competitive race.”
