The men’s and women’s cross country teams both claimed first place Saturday at the NCAA Southeast Regional in Louisville, Ky., which is the qualifying meet for the NCAA Championships.
Bringing five runners in the top 20, the 11th-ranked men barely edged No. 13 Louisville by a score of 69-70.
“We had a very, very competitive region this year,” redshirt senior Chris Kollar said. “It was probably, if not the hardest, the second hardest region in the nation. Winning by just one point shows that it was really close the whole time.”
Kollar paced N.C. State with a 10th-place finish. Fellow runners John Crews and Stephen Furst finished 11th and 12th, respectively. Redshirt senior Tibor Vegh (17th) and redshirt sophomore John Martinez (19th) rounded out the top five for State.
“Our performance was what we’ve been looking to do all year long — that’s run as a pack, run as a group towards the front of the race,” Martinez said.
“Our new uniforms say ‘Pack’ on the front, because that’s exactly what we are: the Wolfpack. We ran together as a pack yesterday, and that was the key to our win.”
Martinez said after the race the team was very happy with its performance. Although the victory wasn’t necessarily an upset, he considered it too close for comfort.
“Louisville had a very strong top three,” he said. “But our pack was just too well-grouped and formed.”
This meet was a stark contrast from the ACC Championships two weeks ago, where State fell to Virginia for the second time in three years. At this meet, however, the Wolfpack protected their regional crown, beating the Cavaliers 69-116.
“It’s definitely nice to beat Virginia,” Kollar said. “We had a good race, and I don’t think they had their best race. They didn’t look nearly as good as they did at the ACC Championship meet.”
On, the women’s side, N.C. State defeated in-state rival Duke by eight points. This marks the 13th year in a row that the women’s team has qualified for nationals.
“Coming into a program that has such tradition, qualifying for nationals is so important,” senior Angelina Blackmon said. “We felt obligated to carry on that tradition.”
Blackmon, who led the women with a 6th-place finish, believed the race was easier due to the lower runners having a much better race.
“A couple of people stepped up big. Bona ran a much better race than she has been running. With her and Colleen and all of us running better, it wasn’t particularly hard.”
Like the men’s team, the women also employed the strategy of running as a pack. The women, however, had groups of two consisting of Blackmon and Brittany Tinsley (6th and 9th), and Bona Jones and Colleen Wetherbee (14th and 15th).
“This is a stepping stone,” Blackmon said. “We had more people running together, which led to a much better performance than the rest of the races we’ve had as a team.”
Both teams will travel to Terre Haute, Ind., for the NCAA Championships on Nov. 19.
“We are going into nationals with momentum,” Blackmon said. “We are confident, and we know that we can run well. The team can only improve and become more competitive between now and nationals.”