Men’s XC Sets Bar for 2016
8/25/2016 3:30:00 PM | Cross Country
RALEIGH, N.C. – After making its way back to the NCAA Cross Country Championships as a team and challenging for an ACC title in 2015, the NC State men's cross country team is looking to repeat the feat.
The team brings back four scorers from the NCAA Championships, including a pair of top-100 runners. However, the Pack will need a boost from some of its 16 underclassmen this season if it wants to improve on the fifth-place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional and 28th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
"The program goals don't change and you can be successful with underclassmen," said Geiger. "If we are going to maintain the level of the program, we have to have athletes that can play a bigger role than they have done in the past."
The foundation has already been laid for the team, as it return a core of experienced runners.
Sam Parsons, an NCAA XC participant, All-ACC Team member and All-Southeast Region team member in each of the last two years returns as the lead wolf. He was the low stick for the Pack in several races last season – 15th at Wisconsin, seventh at ACCs, fifth at NCAA Southeast Regional and 63rd at NCAAs – and he will be relied on for similar numbers this season.
Parsons enters the cross country season after an impressive track season. The Newark, Del., native advanced to the NCAA Championships 10,000m finals. He picked up All-ACC 5,000m honors along the way and helped the men's team clinch a second-place finish at the ACC Outdoor Championships to highlight the outdoor season.
Along with Parsons, Bakri Abushouk and Sebastian Hanson return to the team as key members in the lineup. Abushouk scored in six meets and capped off his season with a 71st-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Hanson was restricted during the NCAA season with an illness, but logged impressive finishes of 16th at ACCs and eighth at Notre Dame during the regular season.
The three athletes make up NC State's returning core, but the group must adjust without the reliability of Meron Simon. The Federal Way, Wash., native was tabbed by FloTrack as the "best transfer in the country", and led the team at Notre Dame and the NCAA Southeast Regional.
NC State is aiming to add depth with transfers again this year with the additions of former Ivy Leaguers Aubrey Myjer and Elijah Moskowitz.
Myjer graduated from Columbia and finished 19th at the 2015 Wisconsin Invitational and added a third-place finish at the Ivy League Championships.
Moskowitz spent his freshman season at Brown and had impressive finishes of 14th at Pre-Nationals and 34th at the NCAA Regional as a true freshman. He recently finished sixth at the USATF Junior Championships in the 5,000m.
To fill the holes and add quality depth to the lineup, some of NC State's underclassmen must fill additional roles.
Zach Langston, Philip Hall and Tanis Baldwin were regulars in last year's lineup, and scored a combined five times throughout the season. Additionally, Aaron Thomas, Alec Thomas, Jack Hagood, Wyatt Maxey and Patrick Sheehan enter their third year in the program and have flashed signs of their talent.
NC State also has a group of redshirt freshmen that could find time in the lineup, between Kyle Christ and Ben Barrett.
The Pack added five men's distance freshmen into a talented 2016 class. Tim Bason, Joe Bistritz, Kenny Kneisel, Edwin Rutto, and Eric Walz make up the group. Overall, they hold 17 state titles and all five have run at high-profile venues including Nike XC Nationals, NB Nationals, Penn Relays Carnival and the adidas BOOST Boston Games.
Overall the Pack has a good mesh of experience and youth on this year's roster that should blend well as the team looks for toward another successful year.
"Making it to the national championships is the first goal, and there is a process with that," Geiger added. "Some of the guys are going to have to step up and play a bigger role than they have in the past, but they chose NC State to do this. That's why they're here."
Finding the right lineup this season will be dependent on which young runners can step in and continue the Pack's tradition of cross country excellence.
The team brings back four scorers from the NCAA Championships, including a pair of top-100 runners. However, the Pack will need a boost from some of its 16 underclassmen this season if it wants to improve on the fifth-place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional and 28th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
"The program goals don't change and you can be successful with underclassmen," said Geiger. "If we are going to maintain the level of the program, we have to have athletes that can play a bigger role than they have done in the past."
The foundation has already been laid for the team, as it return a core of experienced runners.
Sam Parsons, an NCAA XC participant, All-ACC Team member and All-Southeast Region team member in each of the last two years returns as the lead wolf. He was the low stick for the Pack in several races last season – 15th at Wisconsin, seventh at ACCs, fifth at NCAA Southeast Regional and 63rd at NCAAs – and he will be relied on for similar numbers this season.
Parsons enters the cross country season after an impressive track season. The Newark, Del., native advanced to the NCAA Championships 10,000m finals. He picked up All-ACC 5,000m honors along the way and helped the men's team clinch a second-place finish at the ACC Outdoor Championships to highlight the outdoor season.
Along with Parsons, Bakri Abushouk and Sebastian Hanson return to the team as key members in the lineup. Abushouk scored in six meets and capped off his season with a 71st-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Hanson was restricted during the NCAA season with an illness, but logged impressive finishes of 16th at ACCs and eighth at Notre Dame during the regular season.
The three athletes make up NC State's returning core, but the group must adjust without the reliability of Meron Simon. The Federal Way, Wash., native was tabbed by FloTrack as the "best transfer in the country", and led the team at Notre Dame and the NCAA Southeast Regional.
NC State is aiming to add depth with transfers again this year with the additions of former Ivy Leaguers Aubrey Myjer and Elijah Moskowitz.
Myjer graduated from Columbia and finished 19th at the 2015 Wisconsin Invitational and added a third-place finish at the Ivy League Championships.
Moskowitz spent his freshman season at Brown and had impressive finishes of 14th at Pre-Nationals and 34th at the NCAA Regional as a true freshman. He recently finished sixth at the USATF Junior Championships in the 5,000m.
To fill the holes and add quality depth to the lineup, some of NC State's underclassmen must fill additional roles.
Zach Langston, Philip Hall and Tanis Baldwin were regulars in last year's lineup, and scored a combined five times throughout the season. Additionally, Aaron Thomas, Alec Thomas, Jack Hagood, Wyatt Maxey and Patrick Sheehan enter their third year in the program and have flashed signs of their talent.
NC State also has a group of redshirt freshmen that could find time in the lineup, between Kyle Christ and Ben Barrett.
The Pack added five men's distance freshmen into a talented 2016 class. Tim Bason, Joe Bistritz, Kenny Kneisel, Edwin Rutto, and Eric Walz make up the group. Overall, they hold 17 state titles and all five have run at high-profile venues including Nike XC Nationals, NB Nationals, Penn Relays Carnival and the adidas BOOST Boston Games.
Overall the Pack has a good mesh of experience and youth on this year's roster that should blend well as the team looks for toward another successful year.
"Making it to the national championships is the first goal, and there is a process with that," Geiger added. "Some of the guys are going to have to step up and play a bigger role than they have in the past, but they chose NC State to do this. That's why they're here."
Finding the right lineup this season will be dependent on which young runners can step in and continue the Pack's tradition of cross country excellence.
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