North Carolina State University Athletics
Men's Cross Country, Ryan Hill Win ACC Crowns
10/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 29, 2011
Men's and Women's Results (PDF)
CLEMSON, S.C. -- Ryan Hill made his final ACC Championship race one to remember, winning the individual conference championship Saturday and leading NC State to its 15th men’s conference championship overall and its 14th in the last 21 years.
Hill’s individual championship is the 11th for the NC State men, who won the team championship for the 11th time since 1995. Chris Kollar was the last NC State man to win the individual championship, in 2007.
The Wolfpack women tied for third place with Virginia, behind No. 1-ranked Florida State and Boston College. North Carolina finished fifth.
NC State edged Florida State for the men’s team championship by a razor-thin 51-55 margin. North Carolina was third with 84 points.
A senior, a two-time All-American and now a three-time all-conference runner and a conference champion, Hill and teammate Andrew Colley pulled in front of the lead pack about midway through the 8k race at the Musser Farms Course in Clemson. Hill and Colley maintained the 1-2 positions for most of the duration of the race.
Hill completed the 8k course in a time of 23:06.2. Colley ran 23:09.2 and was NC State’s only other all-conference performer. Five Wolfpack runners were within 10 seconds of the All-ACC pace of 23:55.9 set by the 14th-place runner, John Raneri of UNC.
Patrick Campbell was 15th at 23:56.5, with Brian Himelright (16th, 23:56.9), Adam Henken (17th, 23:57.6), Bobby Moldovan (19th, 24:03.9) and Matt Sonnenfeldt (20th, 24:04.8) all within hailing distance of the all-conference team. It was those five runners finishing as close together as they did that helped enable the Wolfpack to edge out Florida State for the team title.
Florida State easily won the women’s championship with 20 points, running 2-3-4-5-6 behind individual champion Kendra Schaaf of North Carolina. The Wolfpack’s Andie Cozzarelli finished eighth and Joanna Thompson was 12th, each earning a spot on the all-conference team. Cozzarelli ran the 6k course in 20:37.7. Thompson’s time was 20:44.3.
Laura Hoer, the 2010 individual champion, finished 16th at 20:50.4. NC State’s other top finishers were Kenyetta Iyevbele (36th at 21:18.3), Erin Mercer (42nd, 21:35.2), Tiayonna Blackmon (50th, 21:53.8), and Samantha Norman (51st, 21:54.3).
NC State will return to action in two weeks, on Nov. 12, at the NCAA Southeast Regional, which will be held in Louisville, Ky.
NC State will host a “B” race, the Three-Stripe Red-Shirt Invite, next Saturday, Nov. 5, at the Wake Med Cross Country Course in Cary.
