North Carolina State University Athletics
Cross Country to Race at Pre-Nationals Saturday
10/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 14, 2010
RALEIGH, N.C. — For NC State, the last race of the regular season in many ways will be like the first race of postseason.
The Wolfpack will travel to Terre Haute, Ind., for the NCAA Pre-Nationals on Saturday, Oct. 16. The Pre-Nationals will provide the Pack with a stern test against top-flight competition at the site of the NCAA Championships, which will be held Nov 22.
Coverage of the NCAA Pre-Nationals, including live video streaming, will be provided by the Flo-Track website. Click here for on-line coverage.
The Pre-Nationals field will be divided into two races for the men and two races for the women. In addition, there will be an open race for both the men and women.
NC State’s women will race in the 6k White Race at 11:35 a.m. The men will race in the 8k White Race at 12:50 p.m.
The men’s field for Pre-Nationals will include 19 teams currently ranked in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association (USTFCCCA) top 30, and 11 of the top 20. NC State, currently ranked No. 13, will line up in the Men's White Race with No. 5 Colorado, No. 8 Portland, No. 16 Oklahoma, No. 19 BYU, No. 21 Tulsa, No. 22 Georgetown, No. 24 Alabama, No. 25 Minnesota and No. 28 Notre Dame.
The women’s field will include 18 of the current top 30 teams, and 12 of the top 20. Fifth-ranked Georgetown will be the top-ranked team facing No. 23 NC State in the Women’s White Race. Other ranked teams in the white race are No. 9 Colorado, No. 12 Stony Brook, No. 17 Stanford, No. 19 Michigan, No. 26 Minnesota and No. 27 Florida.
NC State’s men are coming off a second-place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational on Sept. 25., in Minneapolis, Minn. Head coach Rollie Geiger will field a seven-man lineup for Pre-Nationals that includes senior Sandy Roberts, junior Ryan Hill, sophomores Matt Sonnenfeldt, Brian Himelright and Patrick Campbell, and freshmen Andrew Colley and Bobby Andrews. Campbell, an All-ACC performer a year ago, will be making his first appearance of the season. Juniors Bobby Moldovan and Geoff King will run in the open race.
“We’re coming off a three-week early-season training cycle, and we really pushed our athletes during the middle part of that cycle,” Geiger said. “This race will let us know where we are after that heavy a training load. It should pay dividends for us. I know that a real plus for the program will be having Patrick Campbell in the lineup. We didn’t have him in Minnesota, and he makes a difference.”
The NC State women finished eighth at the Roy Griak Invitational, and they also have a key athlete returning to the lineup. Sophomore Jori Jenkins was the Wolfpack’s No. 3 runner much of last season and will join senior Kara McKenna, junior Andie Cozzarelli, sophomore Erin Mercer, and freshmen Laura Hoer, Kaitlyn Davis and Lillian Greibesland in the starting lineup for head coach Laurie Henes. Lauren Doherty, Allison Hofmann and Halsey Merritt, all redshirt-freshmen, will run in the open race.
The story for the women’s team thus far has been the remarkable collegiate debut of Hoer, who has won both of her first two races. She set a course record in winning the Wolfpack Invitational on Sept. 17 at the Wake Med complex, winning by a whopping 29.5 seconds. She followed that a week later with a 2.4-second victory over an impressive field at the Roy Griak Invitational.
The key for NC State as a team, Henes said, won’t be who wins the individual race, but the gap between the first and last of the Wolfpack’s top five runners. At the Griak Invitational, Hoer finished 69 seconds ahead of NC State’s second runner, and more than two minutes ahead of the Wolfpack’s fifth runner.
“That’s too big a gap,” Henes said. “If we could close that to a minute or even a minute and a half, that could be a lot of points in the team score.”
NC State will line up three freshmen and two sophomores for Pre-Nationals, but Henes said experience, or lack thereof, should not be a factor.
“Pre-Nationals is designed to give the athletes the feel of what nationals will be like, which is why they have it at the same course as nationals,” Henes said. “It’s a really big race, but we haven’t been to a race like the Roy Griak the last several seasons. That experience should help us. That was as tough course as you’ll find, and it was a very good field.”
Players Mentioned
