Crossing the finish line before a member of any opposing team was not an unfamiliar sight for N.C. State at SAS Soccer Park on Friday. The first eight finishers in the men’s race and the first six finishers in the women’s race were from NCSU.
The men’s and women’s cross country teams dictated the pace of the Raleigh Invitational as the men won with a perfect score of 15 and the women won with a near perfect score of 17, easily defeating Shaw, Campbell, Methodist, Hampton, St Augustine’s, Norfolk State, North Carolina A&T, Elizabeth College, Shaw, and Meredith College.
For the men, senior Bryce Ruiz led a group of five runners across the finish line with a time of 14:52 with junior Wesley Smith, junior Tibor Vegh, sophomore Gavin Coombs and junior Stephen Furst all crossing the finish line within one second of each other. Soon after redshirt freshman John Martinez, sophomore Fredy Torres and redshirt freshman Robert Bedsole, who all finished with a time of less than 15:30, capped off an eight man frenzy crossing the finish line before Campbell’s Verrelle Taylor finished at the 15:35 mark.
“We were just trying to get a race under our belt,” Smith said. “Before the race our whole goal was to finish together. In the last 10 meters we didn’t know what was going to happen. It didn’t really matter who won the race today for any of us.”
That was not the only goal coach Rollie Geiger set for his team. According to Geiger, who has led State to 29 ACC team championships and has earned 29 ACC Coach of the Year awards in track and cross country as an assistant and head coach at NC State, he had specific goals for his team other than just winning the meet.
“They were supposed to run together,” Geiger said. “They were supposed to run basically 4:45 a mile and I think the times will indicate that’s what they did today.”
The first five men’s runners to finish had an average mile time of 4:47, which was enough to please Geiger.
“We all ran a little bit faster than we were told,” Smith said.
Smith, who finished second in Friday’s race, ran in uniform for the first time in more than a year due to an injury during track season. He also was pleased with the team’s effort and has lofty goals for this years’ group.
“I’m just excited to be back, be healthy, and be running with these guys again,” Smith said. “We’ve got a lot experience on our team so were ready to turn some heads this year.”
The Wolfpack took the win without several of its top returning runners, juniors John Crews, Chris Kollar, and Bobby Mac.
“John Crews is at a Park Scholarship retreat in Colorado,” Geiger said. “Chris Kollar didn’t run today and he was our No. 2 guy from last year and Bobby Mack didn’t run who was our No. 1 guy two years ago.”
The women’s team is also looking to turn heads this season. Senior Julia Lucas took first place with a time of 17:27 followed by junior Ann Wheatley with a time of 18:02 and junior Amy Kelly with a time of 18:19. Several members of the women’s team ran unattached and out of uniform in order to allow associate head coach Laurie Henes to utilize redshirts if needed later in the season.
“We had a lot of people out of uniform today,” Henes said. “Those who ran unattached today have not been redshirted. We’d have taken the first seven spots in the race if we’d had everyone in uniform.”
Among the runners racing unattached was sophomore Britt Tinsley, who actually crossed the finish line first, but was not in uniform.
“We did a really good job of sticking together,” Tinsley said. “Our plan was to stay as close as possible and not to race each other, but to help each other reach times. We have a lot of amazing girls.”
According to Henes, the overall result was pleasing.
“We were really happy with the outcome,” Henes said. “I wanted to keep more people in that front group but they ran a lot faster than I thought they would.”
Overall the expectations for this year’s cross country season are high among runners and coaches alike.
“Our team should be really good,” Smith said. “We’re under the radar right now, and that’s actually a good thing for us. We’re not even ranked in the top 30 and I think we can easily be in the top ten in the nation.”
“This is kind of a stepping stone,” Geiger said. “We have a fairly large, competitive meet at Notre Dame in two weeks.”
According to Geiger, the competition will not only be tough against other teams in the nation and in the ACC, but will also surface among teammates battling for a position in the top seven.
“This is a good team,” Geiger said. “There’s going to be a little competition in that top seven, I can tell you that, and that’s a good thing. Competition among your team is good.”