North Carolina State University Athletics
Women's Cross Country 32nd at NCAA Pre-Nationals
10/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. With a lineup composed entirely of freshmen, NC State's women's cross country team finished 32nd out of 41 women’s teams in the Blue race at the NCAA Pre-Nationals. Emily Pritt was NC State’s leading runner, taking 61st in a time of 21:23.8 on the 6k course. Caroline Kirby (148th, 21:21.1), Andie Cozzarelli (194th, 22:47.0), Lauren Bishop (230th, 23:13.9) and Amanda Burger (231st, 23:14.3) rounded out the scoring for the Wolfpack.
Washington won the team championship with a score of 36, with Villanova (126), Minnesota (198), Michigan State (215), Florida (233), Wisconsin (247), Stanford (248), Rice (263), Iowa (283) and New Mexico (296) rounding out the top 10. The Wolfpack’s team score was 864.
In the men's race, senior Bobby Mack and junior John Martinez paced NC State to10th place in the Blue Race. Mack, a former All-American who recently was granted a sixth year to complete his four years of eligibility by the NCAA, was making his first appearance in an NC State cross country uniform in more than 13 months. He ran the 8k course at 24:06.6, good for 24th place and approximately 36 second behind Alabama’s Tyson David, who won the individual championship in the race. Martinez finished right behind Mack, in 26th place at 24:08.4.
The Wolfpack’s remaining scorers all were freshmen. True freshman Ryan Hill finished 59th at 24:33.4, followed by redshirt-freshmen Andrew North (116th, 25:04.0) and Bobby Moldovan (143rd, 25:12.1). Redshirt-freshGreg Dame (212th, 25:50.7) and senior Fredy Torres (246th, 26:15.5) also ran for the Wolfpack, but did not figure in the scoring.
Alabama won the team championship in the Blue race with a score of 89 points, followed by Northern Arizona (113), Michigan (146), Florida State (212), Minnesota (234), William & Mary (242), Cal Poly 273), California (315), Providence (321) and NC State (366).
On Friday, a handful of NC State runners were in Boone, N.C., to compete in the Blue Ridge Open. In the men’s Gold race, senior Eric Mack finished 23rd on the 8k course in a time of 25:21. Redshirt-freshman Srini Iyer finished 68th at 26:19. Three NC State true freshmen competed unattached, led by Patrick Campbell, who finished 19th in a time of 15:15.
In the women’s Gold race, junior Christena Tozel took 102 nd place with a time of 20:01 over the 5k course. Sophomore Krista Moss was 109th at 20:08. Four Wolfpack runners competed unattached, led by sophomore Colleen Wetherbee (11th, 18:39) and true freshman Tiayonna Blackmon (26th, 19:03).
