The NC State No. 2-ranked women’s and No. 27-ranked men’s cross country teams blew away the competition and swept first place in their respective races at the NCAA Southeast Regional in Charlottesville, Virginia Friday.
With their victories, both teams earned an automatic bid to next weekend’s NCAA National meet. For the women, this will be the team’s 13th NCAA appearance in 17 years. For the men, it will be their 15th appearance over the same span.
Most members of the Wolfpack performed exceedingly well. Between the men and women, the Pack produced a total of nine All-Region runners.
On the women’s side, the team faced a dense field consisting of William & Mary, Kentucky and Virginia Tech. Yet, the Pack still outshined the rest, outscoring its nearest opponent by a 110-point margin.
“It’s incredible,” redshirt junior Alyssa Rudawsky said. “It’s kind of been a perfect season. Winning ACC’s and then crushing regionals by 110 points is awesome. I think we still have yet to hit a race where all of us perform 100 percent and I think we still have that chance for it to happen at Nationals.”
In a competition featuring more than thirty teams, the Pack’s ability to flood the results with five of the top 19 runners, made its victory even more convincing. Senior Erika Kemp led the team with a runner-up individual finish.
“Individually, it’s the best performance I’ve ever had,” Kemp said. “It was nice to bounce back after a not so impressive ACC performance so it was a good day.”
Not long after Kemp, the trio of sophomore Ryen Frazier, redshirt sophomore Rachel Koon and Rudawsky took 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively. A 19th-place finish from true freshman Elly Henes rounded out Wolfpack scoring. One major key to a stellar team performance was running smart.
“Today we did a really good job of being smart off the line, packing up really well and running the course the way it should be run,” Kemp said. “We were kind of conservative the first half and then made really good moves going into 3km and 4km. Everyone finished pretty well which is how we were able to get five in the top 20.”
Additionally, efficiently moving as a group further propelled the Pack to victory.
“The biggest thing about today was packing up,” Rudawsky said. “I know personally for me when I have a teammate right next to me, it makes those hills a little bit easier, we all fed off of each other on those hills. We just feed off of each other’s energy and that’s what we did today.”
The women’s team will be looking to best last season’s fifth-place finish and earn a spot on the podium.
“We knew after last season, we left Louisville, Kentucky knowing we had more to give and that we could come back next year and do better,” Kemp said. “[The] top four teams get on the podium, so we knew we were capable of that and can do that. We’re in a really good position and we’re not going to limit ourselves to anything.”
On the men’s side, the team conquered the 10km race and took victory, pulling off an upset over No. 17 ranked Virginia in the process.
The Cavaliers, who narrowly bested the Wolfpack at ACC’s with a second-place finish compared to NC State’s third-place finish, found themselves behind the Pack at Regionals; as State went on to win by a margin of 90-105.
“I felt good,” redshirt senior Aubrey Myjer said. “I think [at] every successive meet, our team just keeps getting better and better. We keep showing people what we can do. As this season continues, we learned how to run together even better and we look to continue build on that.”
The finally healthy Pack was lead by a fourth-place finish from redshirt senior Sam Parsons. Following Parsons was redshirt senior Aubrey Myjer in at 10th. The duo of redshirt junior Sebastian Hanson and redshirt sophomore Patrick Sheehan provided the Pack with another boost, as the pair placed 17th and 20th, respectively. Sophomore and recent transfer Elijah Moskowitz rounded out scoring with a 39th-place finish for the Wolfpack.
“It’s been a great day for the Pack,” Parsons said. “This is a moment I’ve been waiting for five years of my career, to bring home a win. To do that today was very special and a moment I’ll never forget.”
A major key to team success today was running with patience.
“We ran a very patient race,” Myjer said. “Especially given the increase in distance from 8km to 10km and how hilly the course was, it was important not to be a hero too early. I think we did a good job of that to wait. We did a good job to move up when it counted.”
Additionally, the further cultivation of strong team chemistry played a crucial factor in the team’s prosperity.
“I think the biggest things were belief and love,” Parsons said. “There’s not a closer team in the NCAA that cares about each other more and that runs for each other more. We poured our hearts out for each other.”
Going into Nationals next week, optimism is in the air as the team is eager to greatly surpass last season’s 28th place result.
“As a team, we’ve gotten better and better every race this year,” Parsons said. “We’re excited and we have a few more pieces we’re going to add in before NCAA’s. This team is far from 100 percent and I think we showed about 70 percent of what we really have today. There’s a big 30 percent that we still have yet to prove, so I think we have the potential to be a top-10 team in this country.”
Up next, men’s and women’s cross country will venture up to Terre Haute, Indiana compete in NCAA Nationals. With momentum from today’s performances, Wolfpack cross country has a good chance to culminate its season in more success.
