After outpacing the competition at the season-opening Adidas Wolfpack Invitational Friday in Cary, the NC State men’s and women’s cross country teams are looking to build on a strong start to the 2015 season.

Both teams dominated Friday but face many questions this season. In particular, the women’s team was ranked No. 16 in the most recent NCAA preseason poll. While that looks good on paper, this season’s success shouldn’t be predicted entirely on current rankings, according to head coach Laurie Henes. 

“Our depth is really, really good,” Henes said. “Rankings are nice, but the only ranking that matters is the one in November. So, that’s what the women are focusing on at this point.”

Between now and November, the women’s team looks to grow gradually one meet at a time. 

“We structured our schedule to be a building block,” Henes said. “Notre Dame is still 5 kilometers actually but a lot more competition, and then Wisconsin goes to 6 kilometers and is a massive race. Then we come back to ACCs with a very deep field, but it has a [smaller field] than Wisconsin or Notre Dame.” 

In addition to a steady building approach, another key factor at the forefront this season is leadership. With the graduation of Joanna Thompson and Kenyetta Iyevbele, the team is eager for new leaders. 

“Losing Joanna and Kenyetta is hard,” Henes said. “Both Joanna and Kenyetta were All-Americans for us and great leaders. Some of our younger athletes are really stepping up and filling that void.”

Strong runners Erika Kemp and Samantha George are expected to run at the front of the Pack this season. Both Kemp and George, who performed exceptionally well this past track season, are looking to carry their momentum over to the cross-country course. 

Another runner who will likely play a major role in the team’s success is freshman Ryen Frazier. Frazier clocked a course record at The Adidas Wolfpack Invitational Friday. Her time of 16:06.4 shattered the previous course record by 22 seconds. 

With Friday’s first-place finish, the men’s team is off to a solid start. Although the group was not ranked in the NCAA preseason poll, head coach Rollie Geiger, like Henes, doesn’t judge the program by a number on a list. 

“Rankings to me don’t mean anything,” Geiger said. “We understand the challenge, and we understand the tradition of this program. Those guys know what I expect, and this is just a stepping stone to our goals, which are to be competitive at conference and make it to the national championship in November. Those are the goals of the program. Those don’t change.”

Because the Wolfpack is on a rigorous practice schedule, the team raced a shorter 5K distance Friday. Geiger said this method of training should be beneficial for the younger runners on the team. 

“The training load is so heavy right now,” Geiger said. “Five-thousand meters makes a lot of sense, particularly for the young guys who raced 5,000 meters in high school, so now they have to jump to 8,000 meters. The rules change for this sport, which is really amazing. It’s kind of like where we are at. Check your training and understand that what you do at 5,000 meters at that pace you’ve just got to continue for another 3,000 meters. You’ve got to treat another 3,000 meters the same.”

In the upcoming weeks, the team looks forward to traveling to the highly competitive Notre Dame Invitational. 

“Two weeks from now is an important race: Notre Dame,” Geiger said. “It’s important because it’s criteria. It simply helps you get to national championships. So that’s a big day for us. To me, that kind of starts the ball toward the NCAAs in November.”

Ultimately, the team is eager to build upon last season. Returning runners redshirt junior Sam Parsons, redshirt senior Graham Crawford and redshirt sophomore Sebastian Hanson look to lead a relatively young team to success. The future is also bright for freshmen Tanis Baldwin and Philip Hall, who competed unattached on Friday. Baldwin and Hall placed second and sixth, respectively.

Both teams feature strong returning classes and a crop of talented new runners, but face different expectations for the coming season. The men’s team disappointingly missed out on nationals last year but looks to return, while the women’s team placed 16th at the NCAA Championships and seeks to repeat 2014’s success.

The men and women will compete at the Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 2.