Both the NC State men’s and women’s cross country teams placed second out of 20 teams this past weekend at the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Indiana.
The women’s team was led by freshman Ryen Frazier, junior Erika Kemp and senior Samantha George. Frazier pulled away from a very competitive field and brought home the individual win as well. She completed the 5K in a blistering 16:22.9.
The team was forced to battle weather conditions that were less than ideal.
“The wind was pretty gusty but it’s the same for everyone,” head coach Laurie Henes said. “It slows down the race at the beginning for sure. The first mile was pretty relaxed for a race at this level. Partially due to the wind, nobody wanted to lead early.”
Despite this additional challenge, many runners on the women’s side performed exceptionally.
“I performed pretty well,” Kemp said. “It was my first race this year since I didn’t run two weeks ago and I definitely improved from last year. Last season I was 15th at this race. This year I was 10th and the field was a lot deeper.”
The women’s team also closely challenged the New Mexico, which was the No. 1 ranked program in the nation.
“I thought we competed well against the number one ranked team in the country,” Henes said. “But I think there are things we can work on for later in the season to get ourselves a little closer to them.”
With the return of Kemp and George this past weekend, the team is confident it can improve and close the gap between its first and seventh runner.
“If we want to close that gap a little bit more from one to seven or eight, we’ve got eight or nine women running at a really high level,” Henes said. “So we’re always looking to make that time gap from our first runner to last runner in that race closer and they did a good job of that today.”
With championship season nearing, the women’s program looks forward to the longer 6K race distance.
“We move to 6K at the Wisconsin invitational in two weeks and that’s the distance for the rest of the season; for ACCs, Regionals and NCAAs,” Henes said. “That move to 6K will be new for the freshmen and I think that really helps our team. The way we train, I think we’re a little better over longer courses so they’re looking forward to jumping to 6K.”
The men’s side was led by junior Meron Simon, redshirt sophomore Sebastian Hanson and redshirt junior Sam Parsons. Simon placed fourth overall.
Similar to the women’s side, the men weren’t phased by the windy conditions.
“It was chilly and a little windy but every single person I raced was also in it,” Simon said. “It didn’t really change anything for us.”
Instead, the team used Notre Dame’s flat cross country course to its advantage.
“Here it’s just flat as a pancake,” Simon said. “Honestly, it was a fast course and there was some good competition.”
The team’s primary focus this meet was running together.
“The first four guys ran extremely well, they grouped well,” head coach Rollie Geiger said. “We have a transfer from Washington that’s in his fifth year and he ran extremely well, Meron Simon. The entire top four were very close in the finish line and that’s how you win championships.”
With the return of Sam Parsons, who missed track season, the team is optimistic this trend of success will continue. A systematic approach to training and competition has also been key for the program.
“We have a two week break cycle,” Geiger said. “First competition was in Raleigh 5000m very low key. Today this was a much bigger meet longer distance. Our next competition is two weeks in Wisconsin. Bigger meet better competition. All those things we do are for preparation for ACC Championships, Regionals and Nationals.”
With an organized and strategic approach to training and competition, both the men’s and women’s cross country programs look poised for success at future contests.
Next, the men’s and women’s teams will compete against an even deeper field of competition at the Wisconsin Invitational Oct. 16.
