North Carolina State University Athletics
Cross Country Prepped for NCAA Southeast Regional
11/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
RALEIGH, N.C.- The NC State cross country teams are set to compete Friday, Nov. 14 at the 2014 NCAA Southeast Regional Championship, in Louisville, Ky. The race will be hosted by Louisville at the E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park.
NC State will send 21 runners to the championship- 11 from the men's squad and 10 from the women's team. The women will compete in the 6k race at 12 p.m. ET, while the men will run in the 10k race at 1 p.m. ET.
Geiger's Outlook
"The guys had a solid race at the conference championship. Virginia, UNC- Chapel Hill and Florida State are good cross country teams and Syracuse is certainly a top four team, so I think it was a solid performance and that's kind of a stepping stone to the regional championships. My expectation is we'll run at the same level if not better than we did at the conference championship because the regional will be extremely competitive. You still have Virginia and UNC- Chapel Hill, and when you throw in Furman and Eastern Kentucky it's a good region.
"Only two teams qualify from the region but the guys seem to be ready. (Sam) Parsons and Graham Crawford had terrific races but then behind that we grouped well. We penetrated up front in the conference and we'll have to do the same thing at the regional, and then the guys behind Parsons and Crawford need to have the same kind of performance. I think they're ready and we'll find out on Friday."- Rollie Geiger, men's head coach
Henes' Perspective
"I think the women were a little disappointed in the ACC finish. We finished around where we were ranked but they feel like they can be a little bit closer in the one to seven spread particularly. We were a little big from one to two this time, which we had been better at throughout the year and we think we'll be able to close that back up going into regionals. They're really excited- this group has had this as their goal all year. This is what they have been training and working for, so I think it's a really good mood going into regionals and they're ready to go."- Laurie Henes, women's head coach
Last Time Out
The men's team finished second at the 2014 ACC Championships, while the women finished fourth, respectively. Sam Parsons, Graham Crawford and Joanna Thompson each collected All-ACC honors from their fourth, fifth and tenth place finishes in their divisions.
Last Time at the Regional Championship
Last season, the men's squad and Thompson from the women's team advanced to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. Thompson, along with Graham Crawford, Megan Moye and Sam Parsons, each earned All-NCAA Southeast Region honors at last year's championship. Wolfpack alums Andrew Colley and Emily Pritt collected the honor well.
Scouting the Southeast Region
40 women's and 37 men's teams will race in Louisville on Friday. In the men's and women's regional, nine ACC schools in each division are listed among the top 15 of the USTFCCCA NCAA Division I Cross Country Regional Team Rankings. The Wolfpack men rank second while the women are listed third in their respective regional divisions.
Including NC State, three Southeast Regional teams rank among the top 30 of the USTFCCCA NCAA Division I Cross Country National Coaches Polls. Both Wolfpack squads are listed at No. 18 in the national polls heading into Friday's championship.
To keep up with the latest information on NC State Cross Country:
Twitter: @PackXC
Facebok: NCStateCrossCountry
