North Carolina State University Athletics
Cross Country Runs Regionals On Saturday
11/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
RALEIGH, N.C. — The real season in cross country begins Saturday. For NC State, that means the NCAA Southeast Regionals at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park in Louisville, Ky.
The top two teams from each of the nine regional sites become automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Championships on November 23 in Terre Haute, Ind. Twelve additional teams qualify for at-large bids, based on regular-season criteria. The top four individual runners from each regional will earn automatic bids to nationals.
The regional will begin at 10 a.m., with the men’s 10K race, which No. 8 William and Mary, No. 16 NC State, No. 19 Virginia, No. 24 Louisville and No. 30 Duke. The women’s 6K women’s race will follow at 11:15 a.m. and will tout a pair of top 30 teams in No. 15 Duke and No. 19 Virginia.
For the Wolfpack, this weekend represents one of the program’s three longstanding team goals: Win the ACC championship, qualify for the NCAA Championships out of the regionals, and finish in the national top 10.
“This weekend is always big for us,” NC State men’s cross country coach Rollie Geiger said. “Finishing in the top two is never easy, and it seems to get more difficult every year. In our region, William & Mary is in the top 10. We know how strong Virginia and Duke are because they’re in our conference. Louisville is in the top 25 and it’s their course, which is always an advantage. This won’t be an easy week.”
The Wolfpack men won the ACC championship two weeks ago at Wake Med Cross Country Course in Cary, and defeated Virginia and Duke in the process. With All-ACC performers John Martinez, Ryan Hill and Patrick Campbell leading the way, the Wolfpack probably will need a repeat performance to finish in the top two this weekend in Louisville. Greg Dame, Bobby Moldovan, Andrew North, Brian Himelright, Geoff King and Thomas Peterson rounded out the Wolfpack’s lineup at the conference championship.
“We ran really well at the ACC race, and not just the guys at the front of the race,” Geiger said. “We certainly needed John, Ryan and Patrick to run as well as they did, but that next group of runners really stepped up for us, guys like Greg Dame, Bobby Moldovan and Andrew North, that whole group scored big points for us. We need another effort like that this weekend.”
The NC State women are coming off a fourth-place finish at the ACC Championships. Emily Pritt earned all-conference honors, with Brittany Tinsley and Jordan Jenkins turning in top 20 finishes.
NC State is third in the latest regional rankings, behind Duke and Virginia, but the Wolfpack finished well behind both at the ACC Championships. Florida State won the conference title, but is in the South Region.
“We’ve had two weeks of good workouts since the conference race, and I feel like we’re getting better,” women’s coach Laurie Henes said. “We’re going to need someone to step up. We have our work cut out for us with Virginia and Duke both in the field.”
