The men’s and women’s cross country teams are set to start their seasons this Saturday in Boone at the Covered Bridge Open. The men enter the season ranked 25th in the national rankings and are looking to capture their first ACC title since 2011.
The men will have their work cut out for them in the ACC this season, as they are just one of five teams ranked nationally (Syracuse, Notre Dame, Virginia and North Carolina are the others). The Syracuse Orange will be the team that everyone will be chasing this year.
The Orange enters the 2014 season as the reigning men’s ACC champions and also the preseason favorites. The Pack will have to dethrone the Orange without three-time All-American Andrew Colley.
Colley, who will go down as one of the great runners in Pack history, ended his illustrious career in 2013 with a dominating victory at the ACC Championship race and a seventh place finish at the NCAA Championships.
Look for the trio of Edward Crawford, Michael Mansy and George Parsons to be out in front for the men this season. Crawford finished ninth in the 2013 ACC Championship race, which earned him All-ACC honors.
On the women’s side, 2013 All-American Joanna Thompson is returning for her senior season with the Pack. Thompson will be looking not only for team success but also personal honors in this year’s ACC Championship race. She finished seventh in last year’s competition with two of the women that finished before her, including last year’s winner Juliet Bottorff of Duke, being seniors.
Thompson will be joined by Erica Kemp and Megan Moye who were very impressive in their freshman campaigns. The Lady Pack will need Kemp and Moye to build upon their successes last season and for junior runners Samantha George and Kaitlyn Kramer to be forces if they hope to compete in the very strong ACC.
The women of Florida State will likely be Thompson and the Pack’s greatest opponent. FSU has become a cross-country powerhouse in the past decade. The Seminoles have dominated the ACC since 2008 with six straight ACC Championships, not to mention a 2007 Championship that was taken away due to infractions.
Colleen Quigley, the 2013 ACC Performer of the Year, will lead the charge for Florida State. Thompson and Quigley will assuredly run in the leading group throughout the ACC Championship race.
Unfortunately, Thompson won’t have an opportunity to get a look at Quigley until the championship race itself. Halloween in Earlysville, Virginia will be judgment day for these two ACC foes.
The best opportunity that Wolfpack fans will have to catch the men’s and women’s teams this year will be at the Wolfpack Invitational on September 19th and the Three Stripe Invite on November 8th. Both meets will be held at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.
