Stephen Bateman
Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams will travel to Charlottesville, Va., to participate in the ACC Championships on Saturday. Last year, both teams won the race, adding to their already long list of ACC titles.
The No. 7 Wolfpack men have won 10 of the past 12 ACC championships, while the women, ranked No. 23, have won 21 titles in the program’s 29-year history.
“This meet is huge to our history and our tradition,” redshirt sophomore John Martinez said. “I have a lot of pride putting on the N.C. State jersey.”
A few teams, however, will look to end State’s reign atop of the ACC. On the men’s side, Virginia, ranked No. 11 in the most recent poll, hopes to put an end to State’s tradition of triumph.
“Virginia, who beat us two years ago, proclaimed themselves as the new dynasty of the ACC,” Martinez said. “A lot of garbage was being talked after that. We won last year, and we feel like we could win this year. That dynasty never had the chance to start, and it won’t this year, and not for a while.”
Men’s coach Rollie Geiger compared the Pack’s race times at Pre-Nationals to Virginia’s times and noted they looked very similar.
“We’re running at their home course, and they’re a very hungry team to win a championship,” Geiger said. “It will be a very competitive ACC Championship, I can promise you that.”
Some State runners and staff said they consider it to be the most difficult course they will run all year.
“This is a very challenging course, and even more challenging with the current conditions,” Geiger said. “Their course is going to be a much softer, muddier course than what we faced earlier in the season when it rained at the Raleigh Invitational.”
Nonetheless, women’s senior runner Angelina Blackmon said even home-course advantage can’t prepare a runner for what she will face at the ACC Championships.
“Virginia’s course is very difficult,” Blackmon said. “But I don’t think, even if you ran on it every day, it would help, because it’s still a completely different course when you actually race.”
The women’s team, which lost ACC champion Julia Lucas last year to graduation, said Florida State will be its toughest opponent.
“Clearly, Florida State has been running at a very high level, and I’m sure they’ll run very well on Saturday,” coach Laurie Henes said. “We just want to make sure that we run to our full potential.”
Florida State All-American Susan Kuijken helped her team gain a No. 3 national ranking by placing first two weeks ago at the NCAA Pre-Nationals.
“As a freshman, she wasn’t one of their top runners,” Blackmon said, “But now she is one of their best. She’s actually in contention with Brittany for being the ACC champion.”
The Pack’s Brittany Tinsley, a junior from Russells Point, Ohio, finished ninth at the ACC Championships last year, six seconds behind Kuijken’s sixth-place finish of 21:20.
“I’m not worried about Brittany at all,” Blackmon said. “If she wants it, she’ll get up there and win it.”
Blackmon also realizes the importance of this meet for the State program as a whole.
“This is one of the best programs in the country,” Blackmon said. “I have the experience and honor of being on the team that brought the ACC championship back to the school last year. Finishing first would definitely be good again.”