NC State cross country competed in the ACC Championships at WakeMed Soccer Complex this morning. NC State not only ran well but was in all respects ahead of the rest of the pack, and finished the regular season on a high note.
Men’s cross country as a team finished second today, a performance that was only outdone by the first-place finish by women’s cross country, its fifth straight ACC Championship under head coach Laurie Henes.
The men’s cross country team started off first with an 8k at 10 a.m. Right away, it was clear that either NC State or Notre Dame would run away with the best overall times. Despite coming close on many occasions, the Wolfpack wasn’t able to close the gap between it and the Fighting Irish, and finished second at the event.
Even so, the Pack still displayed some impressive times. Senior Ian Shanklin finished with a time of 23:08.6, good for second place overall, and a little less than five seconds away from beating out first place, Yared Nuguse of Notre Dame.
Redshirt senior Joe Bistritz finished well within the top 10, finishing with a time of 23:27.3, good enough for sixth. Also noteworthy was freshman Kevin Antczak, who finished 34th in his first ACC Championship, but fifth among all freshmen. He’ll look to improve upon the 23:59 he posted today over the rest of his college career.
Overall, the average time for an NC State runner was 23:27.94, second behind Notre Dame’s blazing fast 23:22.28.
Even more impressive than how well the men ran was how well the women’s cross country team ran, who started it’s 6k at 11 a.m. Despite the best efforts of the rest of the ACC, NC State lapped the rest of the competition, finishing first among all schools.
Several members of the Wolfpack placed in the top 10, including two of the top three. Redshirt senior Dominique Clairmonte stole the show and took the title of ACC Champion with a 19:55.1, the only sub-20 time of the day.
If not for Clairmonte and Amanda Vestri of Syracuse (who finished second with a 20:06.1), it would’ve been senior Hannah Steelman winning what was otherwise a very close race, as Steelman was tailed closely as she crossed the finish line in third with a 20:17.3. Also in the top 10 was promising sophomore Mariah Howlett, finishing seventh with a 20:27.1.
Look at the women’s cross country 6k as a whole, NC State proved it was head and shoulders above the rest. The Wolfpack’s average time of 20:23.62 wasn’t just the best time among the ACC, it was almost a full 20 seconds ahead of second place Georgia Tech, which finished with an average time of 20:43.22.
