North Carolina State University Athletics
Women's Cross Country Season To Open Friday
9/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
RALEIGH, N.C. - When NC State women’s cross country coach Laurie Henes says her 2008 team is young, believe her. The Wolfpack has two seniors, three juniors and three sophomores on the roster. The rest of the roster, approximately two-thirds of it, is comprised of freshmen.
The freshmen, Henes says, have made a major impact on the team through early workouts. Several of the newcomers have emerged as potential front-line runners. They’ve injected a level of competitiveness and intensity that Henes says has invigorated the entire roster.
“I’m really excited about the freshman class in general,” Henes says. “They’re really intense. They’re very competitive. They have a lot of fun. They want to be really good. It’s a great combination. They bring a lot of energy to the program.”
The Wolfpack, freshmen and all, will begin the season Friday at the Wolfpack Invitational, at the Wake Med Soccer Park in Cary. The men’s college race is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. The women’s race will follow shortly after the completion of the men’s race.
The Wolfpack will be competing in a field that also includes Barton College, East Carolina, Francis Marion, Gardner-Webb, Greensboro College, High Point, Louisburg College, Methodist, Mt. Olive, Shaw, St. Augustine's, St. Paul's, Virginia Wesleyan, Warren Wilson College, and Winston Salem State.
Saturday will be devoted to a full slate of high school races.
The Wolfpack this weekend will be without senior Brittany Tinsley, junior Bona Jones, and sophomore Colleen Wetherbee. Tinsley is dinged up from a minor injury. Jones and Wetherbee are training, but will wait until later in the season to compete. Tinsley, a two-time All-ACC runner, is the team’s top returee. Jones was an All-American as a freshman two years ago. Wetherbee was the 2007 ACC Rookie of the Year.
“That’s the core of our returners, but runners who can be redshirted, we usually run them unattached in the early races anyway,” Henes says. “We want to make sure we protect the eligiblity that Brittany has remaining. We’ll make a decision some time down the road.”
Junior Kara McKenna, who was in the Wolfpack’s starting lineup last season, will run unattached on Friday. A former high school All-American in track and field, McKenna seems to have turned a corner this preseason and has been especially impressive in early workouts.
With the four upperclassmen out of the lineup or running unattached Friday, true freshmen Lauren Bishop, Andie Cozzarelli, Emily Pritt and Caroline Kirby will line up in uniform for NC State at the Wolfpack Invitational. Erica Alpeter, another freshman, figures to work into the mix within a few weeks.
Bishop and Cozzarelli were state champions in track and field, and excelled in cross country. Kirby won two state championships in cross country and many more in track. Those three are in-state products. Pritt and Alpeter were three- and four-time All-Ohio runners, respectively, and among the top prep runners in the Upper Midwest.
“That group of five freshmen, pretty much everything they’ve done has been interchangeable,” Henes says. “Hopefully they’ll be a great group in races and run within 10 to 20 seconds of each other. We don’t normally run freshmen this early, so I think they’re very excited. I think they’re excited about putting an NC State uniform on and actually competing. This will be a good opportunity for them.”
NC State cross country has three goals that do not change from year to year: first, win the ACC championship; second, qualify as a team for the NCAA Championships; third, earn a top 10 national finish.
Those are lofty goals, but NC State women’s cross country meets them routinely. NC State has won 21 of the 30 ACC women’s cross country championships, and has qualified for the NCAA meet 25 times in the last 27 years. As for top 10 national finishes, that’s happened 15 times in 31 years, including a pair of national championships (1979 and 1980) and three national runner-ups (1978, 1987, and 2001).
Meeting those goals with so many freshmen competing will be harder, but not impossible, Henes says.
“We won an ACC championship in the mid-1990s (1995) with pretty much all freshmen,” Henes says. “Certainly, that’s not what we’re looking to do, but early in the year we are looking to protect those upper classmen who have not redshirted. It’s like with Julia Lucas. We weren’t planning on redshirting her that last year (2005), but with the way it all worked out she was in contention to win the national title [in 2006]. We want to make sure we protect the eligiblity that Brittany has remaining.”
The freshmen, Henes says, have made a major impact on the team through early workouts. Several of the newcomers have emerged as potential front-line runners. They’ve injected a level of competitiveness and intensity that Henes says has invigorated the entire roster.
“I’m really excited about the freshman class in general,” Henes says. “They’re really intense. They’re very competitive. They have a lot of fun. They want to be really good. It’s a great combination. They bring a lot of energy to the program.”
The Wolfpack, freshmen and all, will begin the season Friday at the Wolfpack Invitational, at the Wake Med Soccer Park in Cary. The men’s college race is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. The women’s race will follow shortly after the completion of the men’s race.
The Wolfpack will be competing in a field that also includes Barton College, East Carolina, Francis Marion, Gardner-Webb, Greensboro College, High Point, Louisburg College, Methodist, Mt. Olive, Shaw, St. Augustine's, St. Paul's, Virginia Wesleyan, Warren Wilson College, and Winston Salem State.
Saturday will be devoted to a full slate of high school races.
The Wolfpack this weekend will be without senior Brittany Tinsley, junior Bona Jones, and sophomore Colleen Wetherbee. Tinsley is dinged up from a minor injury. Jones and Wetherbee are training, but will wait until later in the season to compete. Tinsley, a two-time All-ACC runner, is the team’s top returee. Jones was an All-American as a freshman two years ago. Wetherbee was the 2007 ACC Rookie of the Year.
“That’s the core of our returners, but runners who can be redshirted, we usually run them unattached in the early races anyway,” Henes says. “We want to make sure we protect the eligiblity that Brittany has remaining. We’ll make a decision some time down the road.”
Junior Kara McKenna, who was in the Wolfpack’s starting lineup last season, will run unattached on Friday. A former high school All-American in track and field, McKenna seems to have turned a corner this preseason and has been especially impressive in early workouts.
With the four upperclassmen out of the lineup or running unattached Friday, true freshmen Lauren Bishop, Andie Cozzarelli, Emily Pritt and Caroline Kirby will line up in uniform for NC State at the Wolfpack Invitational. Erica Alpeter, another freshman, figures to work into the mix within a few weeks.
Bishop and Cozzarelli were state champions in track and field, and excelled in cross country. Kirby won two state championships in cross country and many more in track. Those three are in-state products. Pritt and Alpeter were three- and four-time All-Ohio runners, respectively, and among the top prep runners in the Upper Midwest.
“That group of five freshmen, pretty much everything they’ve done has been interchangeable,” Henes says. “Hopefully they’ll be a great group in races and run within 10 to 20 seconds of each other. We don’t normally run freshmen this early, so I think they’re very excited. I think they’re excited about putting an NC State uniform on and actually competing. This will be a good opportunity for them.”
NC State cross country has three goals that do not change from year to year: first, win the ACC championship; second, qualify as a team for the NCAA Championships; third, earn a top 10 national finish.
Those are lofty goals, but NC State women’s cross country meets them routinely. NC State has won 21 of the 30 ACC women’s cross country championships, and has qualified for the NCAA meet 25 times in the last 27 years. As for top 10 national finishes, that’s happened 15 times in 31 years, including a pair of national championships (1979 and 1980) and three national runner-ups (1978, 1987, and 2001).
Meeting those goals with so many freshmen competing will be harder, but not impossible, Henes says.
“We won an ACC championship in the mid-1990s (1995) with pretty much all freshmen,” Henes says. “Certainly, that’s not what we’re looking to do, but early in the year we are looking to protect those upper classmen who have not redshirted. It’s like with Julia Lucas. We weren’t planning on redshirting her that last year (2005), but with the way it all worked out she was in contention to win the national title [in 2006]. We want to make sure we protect the eligiblity that Brittany has remaining.”
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