The NC State cross country team put up three top-10 finishes at the Joe Piane Invitational in South Bend, Indiana on Friday, Oct. 1. The women’s squad took top honors in both of its 5000m events, while the men placed 10th in its five-mile race.
The women hit the ground running by breezing past the competition in the women’s blue 5000m. As a team, NC State finished with 38 points in its first-place finish, far and away the best team in the field with New Mexico placing a distant second with 94 points. Five Wolfpack runners finished in the top 12, led by junior Kelsey Chmiel who took third place with a time of 16:14.6.
Graduate student Hannah Steelman finished sixth, while sophomore Katelyn Tuohy and redshirt junior Sarah LaTour took eighth and ninth place, respectively. Although graduate student Allie Hays did not quite crack the top 10 with her 12th-place finish, she still clocked in as the Pack’s fifth-best runner at 16:32.9 and aided in her team’s dismantling of the rest of the field.
The women’s team continued its dominance in the women’s open 5000m, where NC State once again took the top spot. Senior Savannah Shaw led the field with a time of 16:58 while redshirt junior Mariah Howlett and graduate student Isabel Zimmerman took third and fifth, respectively. The Wolfpack finished the event with 22 points, less than half of that of second-place Ole Miss with 58.
The men’s side was not quite as fortuitous, tying for 10th in the men’s blue five mile with hosts Notre Dame. It was a disappointing finish for the men, as they were unable to sustain a mid-race burst that saw the team soar up to seventh place at the 5130m mark.
Graduate student JP Flavin was the Pack’s top runner, finishing 11th with a time of 23:43.4. Although Flavin was the only Wolfpack runner to finish inside the top 25, graduate students Robinson Snider and Gavin Gaynor eked their way into the top 50, finishing 42nd and 50th, respectively.
Up next for the Wolfpack is a pair of meets in two weeks, as it will travel to East Carolina for the ECU Pirate Invitational and to Wisconsin for the Nuttycombe Invitational on Friday, Oct. 15.
