The NC State men’s and women’s cross country teams opened their seasons in winning fashion on Friday at the 17th annual Wolfpack Invitational in Cary.
Several of the Pack’s top runners ran in Friday’s event unattached, which would mean that their finishes would not count towards the final team results. However, even with the separated runners, the Wolfpack handily defeated the rest of the field. The men finished their top five runners at second through sixth and the women with their top qualifiers at first through third, seventh and eighth.
Former NC State cross-country star Ryan Hill was in attendance to cheer on some of his former teammates. In 2009, Hill set the course record at the WakeMed Soccer Park with a blistering finish of 14:35. Hill watched from the sidelines on Friday as he saw not one, but two, participants in the men’s competition match his course record. Redshirt sophomore Sam Parsons of State and senior Luis Vargas of Elon were the spoilers of Hill’s record. Parsons and Vargas were running neck and neck the entire way as the two approached the final stretch. With a couple hundred meters to go, Vargas was finally able to separate himself from Parsons and win the race’s individual honor. However Elon’s Vargas would be the only non-Pack runner to finish within the top ten, as the next twelve runners would all be from NC State.
The women’s race also featured a thrilling finish as NC State senior Joanna Thompson and sophomore Wesley Frazier of Duke battled for the lead the entire way. As the two approached the end, Thompson gained a slight lead over Frazier. Frazier quickly responded and passed Thompson looking to control the lead for the final meters. Thompson would not be undone though, as she tracked down Frazier and regained the lead. Frazier then began to slow as the young Blue Devil could no longer keep pace with the experienced All American from State. The toll of running with Thompson for a complete race finally got to Frazier as she started to cramp just a couple hundred meters away from the finish line. Sophomore Wolfpack runners Megan Moye and Erika Kemp and freshman Mary Grace-Doggett took advantage of the opportunity and passed Frazier on the final stretch. This would give the Lady Wolfpack ownership of the top four positions.
The NC State men’s and women’s club cross country teams also participated in the Wolfpack Invitational and performed impressively. The men’s club finished 6th with an average time of 16:14 beating out varsity teams from the likes of NC A&T, Gardner-Webb, NC Central, and Shaw. The women’s club also finished 6th compiling an average time of 19:39. Freshman Rachel Koon ran a time of 18:06, which was good enough to beat the top runners from East Carolina and UNC Wilmington.
