North Carolina State University Athletics
Cross Country Season Opens Friday
9/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 15, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. - The men's and women's cross country teams will kick off their season Friday at the adidas Cross Country Challenge, which will be held at the Wake Med cross country course in Cary.
The men's race will begin at 5:15 p.m., followed by the women's race at 5:45 p.m. The races are free to the public. NC State will field teams in both races, and the Wolfpack also will have several runners competing unattached and not in uniform.
As was the case a year ago, NC State will follow the adidas Cross Country Challenge a week from now at the Roy Griak Invitational, Sept. 24 at Minneapolis, Minn., then take a three-week break before competing in the Wisconsin adidas Invitational on Oct. 14 in Madison, Wisc.
The cross country season turns serious at the end of October with the ACC Championships at Clemson, S.C., on Oct. 29; the NCAA Southeast Regional at Louisville, Ky., on Nov. 12; and the NCAA Championships at Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 21.
Looking To Continue A Proud Tradition
Since 1978, the NC State women's program has won 21 of 33 Atlantic Coast Conference championships, 11 individual ACC championships, had 10 team finishes in the national top five, won two team national championships and five individual national championships. The women have made 26 appearances at the NCAA Championships, most by any school, and have had 11 finishes in the top 10 since 1981, including a pair of second-place finishes and three third-place finishes.
The dominance of the men's team doesn't date back quite so far, but the tradition is every bit as rich. The Wolfpack men have won 14 ACC championships since 1986, including 11 of the last 16. Ten Wolfpack runners have won the individual conference crown. The men have made 23 appearances at the NCAA Championships, which ranks 22nd among all Division I school. The NC State men have finished in the national top 10 nine times since 1984, including a third-place finish, a fifth-place finish and a sixth-place finish.
Between the two programs, 40 athletes have earned All-America honors a total of 66 times since 1977. The current rosters feature three All-Americans in Ryan Hill (2009-10), Laura Hoer (2010) and Emily Pritt (2009).
Four Seniors Lead The Men's Team
The NC State men look to have a strong year in 2011, and return four of the top five finishers who lined up at last year's ACC Championships. The men are ranked No. 13 in the most recent USTFCCCA national poll entering the adidas Cross Country Challenge. The Pack is the second-ranked ACC team, and is ranked No. 1 in the Southeast Region.
A strong senior class will lead NC State in 2011. Ryan Hill, a fourth year senior and two-time All-American, is in his final year of eligibility for cross country and figures to be among the top runners in the nation. Greg Dame, Adam Henken, and Bobby Moldovan are all entering their fifth and final year of eligibility.
Hill earned All-America honors for the second year in a row in 2010 with a 22nd-place finish at the NCAA Championships. He also was All-ACC for the third time last season, and took home All-NCAA Southeast Regional for the second time. Hill was also named an All-American in the 10,000 meters on the track in the spring. He is among the favorites at every race, and will look to continue his success in 2011.
Henken, who transferred from Kentucky in 2010, enjoyed a phenomenal track season during his first year with the Wolfpack. He ran a leg on the distance medley relay team that won the ACC championship during the indoor season, took second in the 10,000-meter run at the ACC Outdoor Championships, and followed that up with a fourth-place finish in the 5,000-meter run. Henken narrowly missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 10,000 meters, placing 15th at the NCAA East prelims.
Dame finished 19th at the ACC Championships two years ago, and is looking to get back to that form. Moldovan garnered All-NCAA Southeast Regional honors in 2009, and was the Pack's No. 3 runner at that event a year ago.
"There's a lot of upperclassmen, leadership and experience," head coach Rollie Geiger said. "What's important to the program is that not only do they run at the level that they're capable of, but also that the younger guys do better. We need a couple of those guys to be in the group that's competing."
The Pack will get a big boost from redshirt-sophomore Andrew Colley, who took All-ACC and All-NCAA Southeast Regional honors during his first collegiate cross country season last year, and missed All-America honors by a mere seven seconds. Colley achieved All-America status in the spring, finishing 17th in the 10,000-meter run at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
"Obviously, Andrew Colley is huge to the program, and this is only his second year of eligibility," Geiger said.
Redshirt-juniors Patrick Campbell and Brian Himelright both will add experience to NC State's lineup. Campbell was All-ACC and made the All-NCAA Southeast Regional team two years ago. Himelright qualified for the NCAA East prelims in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the spring, and will look to translate that success to the fall.
NC State has a strong group of newcomers, highlighted by Cody Pelliccioni, a 2010 Foot Locker cross country national championship qualifier; Mitch Mallory, an All-American in the two-mile run at the Nike Outdoor Nationals; and Bobby Mintz, a multiple-time state champion in cross country and track.
"We think we have a good freshman class," Geiger said. "Having said, however, there's a big difference between racing 5,000 meters in high school and 8,000 meters here. So in my opinion, we're going to end up redshirting the freshmen."
Last season, the Pack took second place at the ACC Championships, third at the NCAA Southeast Regional, and 20th at the NCAA Championships. The program has high goals for 2011. Geiger expects the men to contend for the conference championship and to qualify for the national championship.
"Certainly the goal is to finish in the top 10 at nationals," Geiger said.
Women Look To Close The Gap
Like the men's team, the women return all but one member from last year's starting lineup. The women are ranked No. 21 in the nation in the latest USTFCCCA poll going in to this weekend's season-opening race, and were ranked fourth at the NCAA Southeast Regional preseason rankings. The ACC leads all conferences in the national polls, with six women's teams ranked in the top 30.
"The point of the race this weekend is to set us up for Minnesota next week," head women's coach Laurie Henes said. "We like that cycle because then you get three weeks off before the next race. We'll go through a three-week training cycle in between Minnesota and our race at Wisconsin, so you can train a little harder. Really, Friday is simply to set up Minnesota."
In cross country, the top five runners on the team score. If one or more lags far behind the pack, it can kill the team's score. Henes likes her group at the front of the pack. She'll spend the early season looking to fill out that group of five and to have the group of five tightly bunched.
"We want to group up as many girls as we can, whether they're racing in uniform or out of uniform this weekend," said Henes. "That's what we need to do later in the season. Our gaps were just too big last season."
With three All-Americans on the roster and a strong pack on their heels, this shouldn't be a tough feat for the Wolfpack.
The women will look to sophomore Laura Hoer and senior Andie Cozzarelli for leadership. Hoer, who had a phenomenal freshman campaign, will look to repeat her success this season. Hoer won the ACC Championships and the NCAA Southeast Regional, and went on to finish 21st and earn All-America honors at the NCAA Championships.
Hoer won four races as a freshman, making her one of just two freshmen and one of just six NC State runners overall in program history to win four races in a single season.
Cozzarelli had a breakout season in cross country a year ago, earning All-ACC and All-NCAA Southeast Regional honors. She missed achieving All-America status by eight seconds. She was able to earn that honor in the spring by finishing 13th in the 10,000-meter run at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She comes into 2011 with high expectations.
Joining Hoer and Cozzarelli in the lead pack will be redshirt junior Erika Alpeter and junior Erin Mercer, an All-ACC performer on the track in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5,000-meter run in the spring.
Redshirt-freshman Kenyetta Iyevbele earned All-America in the 800 meters in outdoor track this spring, and has run well in workouts so far this fall.
"There's no reason she can't run cross country," Henes said. "She wants to be good at cross country at this level. We have a history of it. Jemissa Hess was good at cross and Angelina Blackmon was good at cross, so we have a good record of 800-meter types being able to run well for us in cross country. I think that can happen. The longer tempos are hard for her, but everything else is good."
True freshman Joanna Thompson will join the Pack after a well-decorated high school career that she topped off with a 10th-place finish at the Foot Locker High School Cross Country Nationals to earn All-America status.
"We're going to put Joanna in uniform on Friday," Henes said. "The people who are further along in their career and haven't redshirted, we'll keep them out of uniform, but the people who only have used one year or are younger, we'll put them in uniform."
Aside from the strong group of six up front, the Pack has a lot of depth on its roster.
"Tiayonna Blackmon has gotten a lot better in cross country, and Ryanna Henderson has done some great jumps in the kind of training she can do," Henes said. "We have a few freshmen that have looked good, too. Besides Joanna Thompson, Deanna Foshee has been looking strong."
Like the men's program, the women look to win the ACC championship this fall and return to the NCAA Championships. The goal at nationals will be to build their 24th-place finish a year ago.
