The men’s and women’s cross country teams will be in action in Terre Haute, Ind., for the Pre-Nationals on Saturday.
The N.C. State men, ranked 10th in the most recent national poll, will be part of a field including 26 of the top 30 teams in the nation. Meanwhile, the No.-26 Wolfpack women go up against a lineup consisting of 22 other nationally ranked teams.
“This will be a good representation of what will be at nationals,” junior Brittany Tinsley said. “This will give us a good indication of where were at right now.”
One advantage of the Pre-Nationals meet is that it will be held on the exact same course that the NCAA Championships will take place on.
“There are some gradual hills. It’s not completely flat, but it’s basically in a big field,” Tinsley said. “I usually like it at Pre-Nationals because the weather is still pretty nice and the ground is usually dry. When Nationals comes around, it seems to be raining or something.”
Women’s coach Laurie Henes has been preparing the team, particularly the freshmen, for the step up to a 6,000-meter race. She also noted there might be some changes after what she saw at the Notre Dame meet and what she has seen during the team’s workouts.
“We’re really practicing finishing hard, going out at a reasonable pace,” Henes said. “We have a lot of young athletes, and I think they were a bit overwhelmed at that size of a field in how fast the field went out. So we’ve been really working with them. One freshman, Marika Walker, has been looking really good, so I think there’s a good chance we will have her in the lineup. That’s a major change.”
Men’s coach Rollie Geiger outlined what redshirt senior Stephen Furst has described as “his tried and true methods” for the men’s 10,000-meter race: face top competition, run on a course used for nationals and, despite a bigger field, run better as a group up front.
On an individual level, redshirt sophomore John Martinez has his own plan of action ready.
“I just want to be in the mix of the team, be up front with the pack,” Martinez said. “This race is going to be very, very competitive.”
