Led by junior Elly Henes’ second straight All-American finish, the NC State cross country teams both finished in the top 15 of the NCAA Championships at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday.
The Wolfpack women finished in 13th place, picking up 367 team points. The NC State men finished in 11th with 342 points, six places better than the Pack men finished last season. For the women, this year saw a slight regression as the Pack finished eighth in 2017.
Henes had by far the best finish for either team, placing 16th in the women’s 6k to earn All-American status for the second year in a row. Henes finished 32nd in 2017 but ran the race in 20:11.6 Saturday to jump up to 16th.
Behind Henes was senior Nell Crosby, who crossed in 20:44.6 to finish 54th. Sophomore Dominique Clairmonte came in just two seconds after Crosby, placing 62nd. Freshman Heather Holt earned a 146th-place finish at her first NCAA Championships, finishing with a time of 21:25.3.
Sophomore Nevada Mareno rounded out the Pack women that contributed to the team score, finishing 172nd with a time of 21:36.6. Those five scores saw the Pack finish with 367 team points, finishing 23 points behind 12th-place Portland. Colorado won the women’s national championship, finishing with 65 points.
On the men’s side, sophomore Ian Shanklin was the best finisher with a time of 30:10.9 in the 10k race, finishing 54th. Sophomore Joe Bistritz was next for the Pack, finishing in 88th with a time of 30:32.9. Right behind Bistritz was sophomore Gavin Gaynor, who finished just one place and one-tenth of a second behind his teammate.
Senior Elijah Moskowitz finished not far behind Bistritz and Gaynor. Placing 96th with a time of 30:35.6. Sophomore Edwin Rutto rounded out the Pack scorers, placing two spots behind Moskowitz with a time of 30:36.5.
The Pack’s 342 points was actually the same as 10th-place finisher Boise State, but the Broncos won the tiebreaker to finish in the top 10. Northern Arizona won the men’s national title, finishing with 83 points.
The Wolfpack’s season now comes to an end, with NC State’s runners shifting their focus to the indoor track and field season that will kick off on Dec. 1.
