The women's cross country team won only the 3rd team NCAA title in school history last season, in the fall of 2021, the first NCAA team title at NC State in 38 years since the men's basketball title in 1983. The women's cross country team has a very good chance of repeating as national champions this fall. The official pre-season rankings have not come out yet, but most people who follow the sport believe they will be the favorites to win again.

I wish I would have made it out to some of the meets last year, to witness history. Fortunately, we have the chance to potentially witness it again this year.

The schedule for this fall came out recently.

https://instagr.am/p/CfuLIbyPFPm


Hype video for the fall:

Hays, Steelman and Clairmonte have graduated from last years team, which was our 3rd, 4th, and 7th place finishers from last season. With Chmiel, Tuohy and Bush we return 3 of the top 26 scorers from last season and Bush and particularly Tuohy have the potential to both finish higher this next season. Also will return runners like Heather Holt and Savannah Shaw who scored for the pack often last year, plus some great experience with the potential to improve like Nevada Mareno, Alyssa Hendrix, Gionna Quarzo. really excited to see what Brooke Rauber can show this year as well, she has a ton of talent.

The key to how good NC State can be next season will be Marlee Starliper. She has the talent if she can stay healthy to be an all american if not top 25 or so.

Will be adding some great talent as well. Sydney Seymour transfer from Tennessee ran a 15:34 5k on the track last season which is nationally competitive. Also adding in some really talented freshman, Hannah Gapes from New Zealand who has a 16:47 5k PB and a couple of american high schoolers who have run low to mid 17's as well.

The team has a chance to fight for some crazy low scores at some big time meets and im really excited to watch.

jadawson said:

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Hays, Steelman and Clairmonte have graduated from last years team, which was our 3rd, 4th, and 7th place finishers from last season. With Chmiel, Tuohy and Bush we return 3 of the top 26 scorers from last season and Bush and particularly Tuohy have the potential to both finish higher this next season. Also will return runners like Heather Holt and Savannah Shaw who scored for the pack often last year, plus some great experience with the potential to improve like Nevada Mareno, Alyssa Hendrix, Gionna Quarzo. really excited to see what Brooke Rauber can show this year as well, she has a ton of talent.

The key to how good NC State can be next season will be Marlee Starliper. She has the talent if she can stay healthy to be an all american if not top 25 or so.

Will be adding some great talent as well. Sydney Seymour transfer from Tennessee ran a 15:34 5k on the track last season which is nationally competitive. Also adding in some really talented freshman, Hannah Gapes from New Zealand who has a 16:47 5k PB and a couple of american high schoolers who have run low to mid 17's as well.

The team has a chance to fight for some crazy low scores at some big time meets and im really excited to watch.

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Looks like Seymour should be a "replacement" for Steelman or Hays, as long as she performs to her potential. She was 3rd at the South Regionals in cross country in November 2021, with a time of 19:46 and only 5 seconds behind Parker Valby and 12 seconds behind Chelangat. But she ran a somewhat poor race in the 2020 national championship race in Stillwater in March of 2021. Hopefully that was just an outlier or she had a bad day. But that's significant because the 2022 championship is in Stillwater again.

I agree that Starliper looks to be a big key to being able to repeat as national champions. She hasn't run a 6k cross race yet in college, but based on her strong performance in the 5000m in the 2022 outdoor season and the fact that she was one of the top cross country runners out of high school, I expect her to perform well in cross country at NC State. If she's already 9th best in the NCAA at 5000m outdoor, you have to think she could be top 20 in cross in the fall.

But it's weird how some runners are good on the track at 5000m and then not so good at a 6k cross country races, such as Savannah Shaw who has yet to run a really good 6k in cross. I think I read Shaw say that she has dealt with some "mental demons" in college. Maybe she is getting past those, after running a PR of 15:33 in the 5000m last month on the track.

But it's not all dependent on Starliper. Maybe Nevada Mareno (PR of 20:23 in 6k cross), Shaw (PR of 20:48), or Holt (PR of 20:28) can make a significant leap in their performances to get down around 20:00, which is probably what you need from your 5th place runner to win at nationals.

And I'm with you on Rauber. I'm really excited to see what she can do. It seems she was about as highly regarded as Starliper in cross country coming out of high school.

Based on everything I'm seeing, it looks like New Mexico is our main competition for the national championship, with either NC State or New Mexico being heavy favorites over all other teams. With the addition of Seymour and Starliper finally getting healthy and able to compete, I think we are solid favorites over New Mexico as it stands now.

GuerrillaPack said:

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Looks like Seymour should be a "replacement" for Steelman or Hays, as long as she performs to her potential. She was 3rd at the South Regionals in cross country in November 2021, with a time of 19:46 and only 5 seconds behind Parker Valby and 12 seconds behind Chelangat. But she ran a somewhat poor race in the 2020 national championship race in Stillwater in March of 2021. Hopefully that was just an outlier or she had a bad day. But that's significant because the 2022 championship is in Stillwater again.

I agree that Starliper looks to be a big key to being able to repeat as national champions. She hasn't run a 6k cross race yet in college, but based on her strong performance in the 5000m in the 2022 outdoor season and the fact that she was one of the top cross country runners out of high school, I expect her to perform well in cross country at NC State. If she's already 9th best in the NCAA at 5000m outdoor, you have to think she could be top 20 in cross in the fall.

But it's weird how some runners are good on the track at 5000m and then not so good at a 6k cross country races, such as Savannah Shaw who has yet to run a really good 6k in cross. I think I read Shaw say that she has dealt with some "mental demons" in college. Maybe she is getting past those, after running a PR of 15:33 in the 5000m last month on the track.

But it's not all dependent on Starliper. Maybe Nevada Mareno (PR of 20:23 in 6k cross), Shaw (PR of 20:48), or Holt (PR of 20:28) can make a significant leap in their performances to get down around 20:00, which is probably what you need from your 5th place runner to win at nationals.

And I'm with you on Rauber. I'm really excited to see what she can do. It seems she was about as highly regarded as Starliper in cross country coming out of high school.

Based on everything I'm seeing, it looks like New Mexico is our main competition for the national championship, with either NC State or New Mexico being heavy favorites over all other teams. With the addition of Seymour and Starliper finally getting healthy and able to compete, I think we are solid favorites over New Mexico as it stands now.

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Agree on the Seymour point. preseason expectation i think would be that our top 5 given health is good would be Tuohy, Chmiel, Bush, Seymour, Starliper in some order. But Shaw i think is a darkhorse to push them if she can figure out cross country. Her 5k time on the track would put her challenging for top 5 and seemingly a little ahead of the Mareno, Holt types but like you said xc is still a work in progress for her.

New Mexico definitely looks like the competition next year. They return 4 of their top 6 that were all top 56 in the country last year including a freshman and sophomore that were 18th and 21st in the country last year (the freshman was also 7th in the 5k in outdoors just ahead of our group of girls so she is very talented). They seem to score by pack running rather than having a few elite scorers which is similar to how we try to run together for much of the race. The only other team that could be up there is BYU again but thats only because they are an unknown. They lose a lot of talent including the champion Whittni Orton but its a really strong and consistent program that is well coached and its hard to gauge their talent level year to year since they'll have mature women coming back from their mormon missions that are wildcards every year.

Laurie will have them ready come November. She's the best coach on campus and we have some great ones.

For those who don't know, almost all of the women's distance runners say that cross country is by far their favorite season (over indoor and outdoor track).

As an example, in this interview with Katelyn Tuohy after her race at the US Championships just a couple weeks ago, she says that she was "talking about cross country all week instead of focusing on that race" and that she is "so stoked" for this coming cross country season and trying to "repeat what they did last fall". See at 2:15-45 in video.

GuerrillaPack said:

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For those who don't know, almost all of the women's distance runners say that cross country is by far their favorite season (over indoor and outdoor track).

As an example, in this interview with Katelyn Tuohy after her race at the US Championships just a couple weeks ago, she says that she was "talking about cross country all week instead of focusing on that race" and that she is "so stoked" for this coming cross country season and trying to "repeat what they did last fall". See at 2:15-45 in video.

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Makes sense. Every girl you see that commits or is in our program talks about the camaraderie as one of the big things that made them choose State. Track, while having a team score, is far more of an individual sport. In track you and your teammates are all in different events and you might be alone in your race. Whereas in XC its far more about the team and you all are on the startline together and are able to push on with your teammates consistently through strategy which isn't as likely as track.

This preview of the 2022 season says that NC State and New Mexico are the title favorites, and giving the Wolfpack a slight edge over the Lobos.

https://www.thestridereport.com/amp/2022-women-s-way-too-early-xc-preview-part-one

Quote:

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2022 Women's Way Too Early XC Preview (Part One)

Alright, let's just get this out of the way.

NC State is going to win another national title in cross country...right?

The Wolfpack women were incredible last year, peaking in the postseason and showing off top-end firepower that most teams struggled to match. Katelyn Tuohy reached a new level while Kelsey Chmiel continued to deliver quietly elite results.

And yes, the NC State women did lose to New Mexico at the Nuttycombe Invitational last year by nine points, but the Wolfpack didn't have Steelman or Clairmonte in that race. In fact, if you look at the Joe Piane results, you'll see that NC State handily defeated New Mexico at that meet, 38 points to 94 points.

As we look at NC State in 2022, they'll be losing Clairmonte, Steelman and Hays from last year's varsity lineup. On paper, losing that group would open up the national title picture for New Mexico and maybe one or two other surprise teams.

But the Wolfpack have the potential to match last year's success, although that potential is hardly guaranteed. Instead, it's more speculative.

The introduction of graduate transfer Sydney Seymour fills an Allie Hays-sized scoring hole in this varsity lineup. The rise of promising youngsters like Marlee Starliper and Gionna Quarzo this past spring also gives NC State tons of upside...but also plenty of variability.

On paper, NC State looks like they'll be just as good as last year, maybe even better. Still, there are some legitimate questions surrounding this group and enough uncertainty to hold us back from claiming the Wolfpack as air-tight locks for the national title...for now.

Because when you look at New Mexico, a team that also loses a few key veterans, there may not be any team in the NCAA with a higher ceiling than the Lobos.

The exhausted cross country eligibility of Stefanie Parsons and Adva Cohen is a tough blow, but the Lobos are far from being out of the picture when it comes to title contention. Emma Heckel, Gracelyn Larkin, Amelia Mazza-Downie and Aliandra Upshaw each bring a tremendous amount of firepower to the table.

However, more importantly, they still have tons of room to grow as each of those four women were listed with freshman or sophomore eligibility last year.

And when you look at how much more refined these women were on the indoor and outdoor ovals earlier this year, it's hard to think that they won't build upon their already-promising fitness.

Upshaw should be better on the national stage, a veteran in Abbe Goldstein returns to this lineup with extra eligibility and both Elise Thorner and Samree Dishon had huge breakout years on the track.

New Mexico isn't quite at the same level as NC State yet, but their room for improvement is arguably greater than any other team in the NCAA.

And when you consider how good the Lobos already were in 2022, it's hard to say that NC State is safe from losing the cross country team title this year.

---

This website also ranked the top 50 individuals. The articles are behind a paywall, but from the tags at the bottom of the page, you can see the range of the rankings for each:

https://www.thestridereport.com/post/tsr-s-2022-preseason-d1-xc-top-50-rankings-10-1-women

Tuohy and Chmiel are ranked in the top 10
Bush is somewhere from 11-20
Seymour and Starliper are somewhere from 21-30

New Mexico has two runners in the top 10, one from 21-30, one from 31-40, and one from 41-50

GuerrillaPack said:

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This website also ranked the top 50 individuals. The articles are behind a paywall, but from the tags at the bottom of the page, you can see the range of the rankings for each:

https://www.thestridereport.com/post/tsr-s-2022-preseason-d1-xc-top-50-rankings-10-1-women

Tuohy and Chmiel are ranked in the top 10
Bush is somewhere from 11-20
Seymour and Starliper are somewhere from 21-30

New Mexico has two runners in the top 10, one from 21-30, one from 31-40, and one from 41-50

---

Thanks for the link, signed up for a trial and its a pretty cool site.

State's sitting with the following according to their rankings:

2) Tuohy
6) Kelsey Chmiel
17) Sam Bush
28) Marlee Starliper
29) Sydney Seymour

HM: Gionna Quarzo, Savannah Shaw, Sarah Latour

other podium contenders for reference

New Mexico

8) Emma Heckel
10) Gracelyn Larkin
27) Amalia Mazzie Downie
39) Abbe Goldstein
44) Elise Thorner

HM: Samree Dishon, Aliandrea Upshaw

BYU

21) Aubrey Frentheway
41) McKenna Lee
45) Jenna Hutchins

HM: Lindsey Stallworth, Lexy Halladay

Alabama

1) Mercy Chelangat
12) Amaris Tyynismaa
14) Florema Asekol

Notre Dame

16) Olivia Markezich
22) Mandy Denner


HM: Erin Strzelecki, Katie Thronson

Oklahoma St

3) Taylor Roe
24) Natalie Cook
33) Gabby Hentemann
35) Molly Born

jadawson said:

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GuerrillaPack said:

---

This website also ranked the top 50 individuals. The articles are behind a paywall, but from the tags at the bottom of the page, you can see the range of the rankings for each:

https://www.thestridereport.com/post/tsr-s-2022-preseason-d1-xc-top-50-rankings-10-1-women

Tuohy and Chmiel are ranked in the top 10
Bush is somewhere from 11-20
Seymour and Starliper are somewhere from 21-30

New Mexico has two runners in the top 10, one from 21-30, one from 31-40, and one from 41-50

---

Thanks for the link, signed up for a trial and its a pretty cool site.

State's sitting with the following according to their rankings:

2) Tuohy
6) Kelsey Chmiel
17) Sam Bush
28) Marlee Starliper
29) Sydney Seymour

HM: Gionna Quarzo, Savannah Shaw, Sarah Latour

other podium contenders for reference

New Mexico

8) Emma Heckel
10) Gracelyn Larkin
27) Amalia Mazzie Downie
39) Abbe Goldstein
44) Elise Thorner

HM: Samree Dishon, Aliandrea Upshaw

BYU

21) Aubrey Frentheway
41) McKenna Lee
45) Jenna Hutchins

HM: Lindsey Stallworth, Lexy Halladay

Alabama

1) Mercy Chelangat
12) Amaris Tyynismaa
14) Florema Asekol

Notre Dame

16) Olivia Markezich
22) Mandy Denner


HM: Erin Strzelecki, Katie Thronson

Oklahoma St

3) Taylor Roe
24) Natalie Cook
33) Gabby Hentemann
35) Molly Born

---

Thanks for posting. I realize the scoring would not work out like this (it would be lower), but if you "roughly" calculate a scoring at nationals based on those rankings, we would win the national title over New Mexico by a score of 82 to 128.

And I don't really know much about the Stride Report site (other than they have 16.5k Instagram followers) and how good their rankings are, but I find it interesting that they didn't mention Brooke Rauber for us at all, even in the Honorable Mentions. Rauber is someone that even people who follow the sport are forgetting about. Rauber was about as highly ranked in XC coming out of high school as Starliper. I think Rauber is already better than Quarzo and Latour. I think Rauber may end up being our 6th or 7th best runner this year, and almost as good as our 5th (maybe placing around 40-50 at nationals), providing real depth at the national race.

GuerrillaPack said:

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jadawson said:

---

GuerrillaPack said:

---

This website also ranked the top 50 individuals. The articles are behind a paywall, but from the tags at the bottom of the page, you can see the range of the rankings for each:

https://www.thestridereport.com/post/tsr-s-2022-preseason-d1-xc-top-50-rankings-10-1-women

Tuohy and Chmiel are ranked in the top 10
Bush is somewhere from 11-20
Seymour and Starliper are somewhere from 21-30

New Mexico has two runners in the top 10, one from 21-30, one from 31-40, and one from 41-50

---

Thanks for the link, signed up for a trial and its a pretty cool site.

State's sitting with the following according to their rankings:

2) Tuohy
6) Kelsey Chmiel
17) Sam Bush
28) Marlee Starliper
29) Sydney Seymour

HM: Gionna Quarzo, Savannah Shaw, Sarah Latour

other podium contenders for reference

New Mexico

8) Emma Heckel
10) Gracelyn Larkin
27) Amalia Mazzie Downie
39) Abbe Goldstein
44) Elise Thorner

HM: Samree Dishon, Aliandrea Upshaw

BYU

21) Aubrey Frentheway
41) McKenna Lee
45) Jenna Hutchins

HM: Lindsey Stallworth, Lexy Halladay

Alabama

1) Mercy Chelangat
12) Amaris Tyynismaa
14) Florema Asekol

Notre Dame

16) Olivia Markezich
22) Mandy Denner


HM: Erin Strzelecki, Katie Thronson

Oklahoma St

3) Taylor Roe
24) Natalie Cook
33) Gabby Hentemann
35) Molly Born

---

Thanks for posting. I realize the scoring would not work out like this (it would be lower), but if you "roughly" calculate a scoring at nationals based on those rankings, we would win the national title over New Mexico by a score of 82 to 128.

And I don't really know much about the Stride Report site (other than they have 16.5k Instagram followers) and how good their rankings are, but I find it interesting that they didn't mention Brooke Rauber for us at all, even in the Honorable Mentions. Rauber is someone that even people who follow the sport are forgetting about. Rauber was about as highly ranked in XC coming out of high school as Starliper. I think Rauber is already better than Quarzo and Latour. I think Rauber may end up being our 6th or 7th best runner this year, and almost as good as our 5th (maybe placing around 40-50 at nationals), providing real depth at the national race.

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agree about Rauber. Though i understand its hard for a national coverage site to know the ins and outs of each teams redshirt runners and how they've progressed over time and try to project them.

Also side note, Ian Shanklin was listed Honorable Mention on the mens side. Would love for the mens team to find its stride again and get back to being nationally relevant but hopefully he can at least threaten all american status as an individual.

The Pack is BACK, baby 👟#GoPack | #PackXC pic.twitter.com/rbCF0QyT0M

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) August 19, 2022

From those pics of the girls running, it looks like many of the major players are here/healthy -- including the transfer Seymour, Chmiel (who was recovering from an injury and missed much of the outdoor track season), and Starliper and Rauber.

Wolf hands up for FDOC 😎#GoPack | #PackXC pic.twitter.com/pFtW3dX4gW

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) August 22, 2022

Gettin' back into it ☺️#GoPack | #PackXC pic.twitter.com/BiVnlNCnca

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) August 24, 2022

We turned the camera over to a few members of the team yesterday and the results? Amazing #GoPack | #PackXC pic.twitter.com/tw7TPAkdLk

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) August 25, 2022

Starting 2022 right where we ended 2021 😎#GoPack | #PackXC pic.twitter.com/eb3HF6ldxW

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) August 31, 2022

The NC State women's cross country program has been selected to finish first in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), receiving all 15 first-place votes. The Wolfpack men were chosen to finish seventh in the league.

The squad returns a trio of cross country All-Americans in Kelsey Chmiel, Katelyn Tuohy and Sam Bush in addition to 2021 All-ACC honoree Heather Holt. 2022 outdoor track & field All-American Sydney Seymour joins the squad from Tennessee.

NC State's men returns All-American Ian Shanklin alongside 2020 All-ACC honoree Hannes Burger. The squad brings in transfers Travis Koekemoer and David Vorbach from Campbell and Columbia, respectively.

2022 ACC Women's Cross Country Preseason Poll
1. NC State
2. North Carolina
3. Notre Dame
4. Florida State
5. Virginia
6. Syracuse
7. Duke
8. Boston College
9. Wake Forest
10. Virginia Tech
11. Georgia Tech
12. Pitt
13. Louisville
14. Miami
15. Clemson

2022 ACC Men's Cross Country Preseason Poll
1. Wake Forest
2. Notre Dame
3. North Carolina
4. Virginia
5. Syracuse
6. Florida State
7. NC State
8. Duke
9. Virginia Tech
10. Pitt
11. Louisville
12. Georgia Tech
13. Boston College
14. Clemson
15. Miami

https://gopack.com/news/2022/9/2/cross-country-pack-women-picked-to-win-acc-in-2022-preseason-coaches-poll.aspx

Basically everyone has the NC State women ranked #1 in the country - Coaches poll, Flo Track's ranking, and independent outlets like The Stride Report and the Wood Report.

But even more than that, they are saying that this year's Wolfpack women's team has the chance to be "historically elite" and could be one of the best D1 cross country teams (men's or women's) in decades.

Of course, it's not a given. Anything can happen, especially with injuries. But the potential for this team is phenomenal - if everyone is healthy, and especially if Marlee Starliper and Sydney Seymour can perform as expected, this team could absolutely dominate at nationals and possibly win with a record low score.

Here is The Stride Report's podcast from a few days ago previewing the top contenders for the D1 National Title. They focus on the NC State women from 9:55 to 16:15 (with other discussion of the Wolfpack later in the podcast as well). They say that the Wolfpack women could be "historically elite", and they don't see how anyone could beat them, and could possibly score less than 50 points at nationals.

https://www.thestridereport.com/podcasts-tsr/episode/8fade759/blue-oval-podcast-who-can-take-down-nau-and-nc-state



Wood Report says Wolfpack women could be the best D1 team (men's or women's) in decades:

A few thoughts: @PackXC Women might be the best cross country team regardless of gender that we've seen in decades. @AlabamaTrack Women are criminally underrated. @UNMLoboXCTF have a great women's team and in a normal year w/o NCST would have a team that would be a favorite.

— The Wood Report (@Wood_Report) September 6, 2022

I've read recent posts on the LetsRun forum from a person claiming to have some sort of insider knowledge of the program, saying that Kelsey Chmiel is slowly recovering from her injury (some kind of foot injury that held her out of the 2022 outdoor track season), and that the coaches may hold her out of the early cross country races and she may not race until the ACC championships or Nationals.

Who knows if this alleged inside info is true or not. In the photos and videos released from the official NC State TF/XC social media, Kelsey has been running with the team ever since practice started just a few weeks ago. Surely you would not allow an athlete to run if there was a chance of any further injury, and you would think that the likelihood of there still being any sort of pain or physical limitation in the foot is probably low. The fact that she is running right now is obviously a very positive sign that Kelsey is on the road to full recovery. I guess the big question is when she started training and how quickly she can build that "base" level of fitness needed to compete at a high level. I guess that if she just started training or running in the last few weeks (hypothetically), then it might take until October or early November until she gets back to top form. But that would be fine, because from a team perspective they probably won't need her until Nationals.

Here is Kelsey (in the gray tank top) running with the team (and with the "top" group of runners) in the practice/retreat they had up in the Boone area just a few days ago:

https://instagr.am/p/CiGVx5-pfIW

The first race of this season is this Friday (Sept 16th) in Cary at the WakeMed Soccer Park Cross Country Course. If you live in the Raleigh area, this will be the only "easy" chance to see the team in person this season. The only other race within close driving distance is the ACC Championships in Charlottesville, VA. The other big meets are at Notre Dame's course, at Wisconsin, the Regionals in Louisville, and Nationals in Stillwater, OK.

The men's race starts at 5:40pm, and the women's starts at 6:20pm.

Meet and course info here at this website:
https://thexcchallenge.com/

That video is on one of the "carriage trails" at Moses Cone Park up on the Blue Ridge Parkway...

GuerrillaPack said:

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The first race of this season is this Friday (Sept 16th) in Cary at the WakeMed Soccer Park Cross Country Course. If you live in the Raleigh area, this will be the only "easy" chance to see the team in person this season. The only other race within close driving distance is the ACC Championships in Charlottesville, VA. The other big meets are at Notre Dame's course, at Wisconsin, the Regionals in Louisville, and Nationals in Stillwater, OK.

The men's race starts at 5:40pm, and the women's starts at 6:20pm.

Meet and course info here at this website:
https://thexcchallenge.com/

---

Thanks. Any theories on why the men continue to slowly slide towards the lower half of the ACC? Has Rollie stayed too long?

89_Grad said:

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GuerrillaPack said:

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The first race of this season is this Friday (Sept 16th) in Cary at the WakeMed Soccer Park Cross Country Course. If you live in the Raleigh area, this will be the only "easy" chance to see the team in person this season. The only other race within close driving distance is the ACC Championships in Charlottesville, VA. The other big meets are at Notre Dame's course, at Wisconsin, the Regionals in Louisville, and Nationals in Stillwater, OK.

The men's race starts at 5:40pm, and the women's starts at 6:20pm.

Meet and course info here at this website:
https://thexcchallenge.com/

---

Thanks. Any theories on why the men continue to slowly slide towards the lower half of the ACC? Has Rollie stayed too long?

---

Adding two great programs like Syracuse and Notre Dame plus schools like Wake Forest making great hires makes the acc much more difficult than when nc state was dominant in conference from the 90's through the mid 00's.


Also, this is just my theory so take it with a grain of salt, but NC state sort of developed a rep of burning runners out due to the training philosophy Geiger favors. I think that may have finally caught up and started to affect recruiting. Rollie has been known to favor high mileage "survival of the fittest" type training. Constant high and hard mileage can make you thrive if you have the body and training history to support it and you can see that with how the program pumped out all americans through much of his tenure. But that training style can also leave you in a cycle of injuries and fatigue that lead you to little improvement. As high school coaching of top runners is getting more and more advanced, the top tier recruits are looking for programs that can tailor their training more to them as individuals and what they need rather than them tailoring themselves towards the team philosophy.

This rep was already in existence but certainly wasn't helped by some comments made by Craig Engels, who started his career at NC State and almost quit because he said the training made him hate running, but then transferred to Ole Miss and improved remarkably later qualifying for a World Championships.

Only 1 more sleep...

Ready to get the 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣2️⃣ season started‼️

Join us tomorrow at WakeMed Soccer Park for our first meet of the season.

Men's 6K at 5:40
Women's 5K at 6:20 pic.twitter.com/HqvkNrjiDN

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) September 15, 2022

The NC State men's and women's cross country teams will start the 2022 season Friday evening at the Adidas XC Challenge held at the WakeMed Soccer Park Cross Country Course in Cary.

Meet Schedule
5:40 p.m. Men's 6K Race
6:20 p.m. Women's 5K Race

Meet Information | Live Results

Expected to Compete for NC State
Men:
Miles Ally
Kyle Durham
Brett Gardner
Ian Harrison
Zach Hughes
Wesley Larson
JJ Malach
Dan McGoey
Jake Toomey
David Vorbach

Women:
Sam Bush
Alyssa Hendrix
Mariah Howlett
Gionna Quarzo
Brooke Rauber
Shannon Sefton
Savannah Shaw
Marlee Starliper

Teams Participating
Barton
Campbell
Charleston Southern
Davidson
Duke
Elon
Johnson C. Smith
Louisburg
North Carolina A&T
North Carolina Central
NC State
Patrick Henry Community College
Rockingham Community College
Shaw
UNCW
Wake Forest
Winston-Salem State

https://gopack.com/news/2022/9/15/pack-opens-2022-cross-country-season-friday-at-adidas-xc-challenge.aspx

Not surprised the bigger names are getting a rest for this one. Tuohy had a long season and Chmiel is coming off of injury. Almost more surprised that Bush and Starliper are running.

With our 2022 season kicking off tonight, catch up on our men's and women's teams with the official season preview.https://t.co/Hy3rRozIeJ

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) September 16, 2022

89_Grad said:

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GuerrillaPack said:

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The first race of this season is this Friday (Sept 16th) in Cary at the WakeMed Soccer Park Cross Country Course. If you live in the Raleigh area, this will be the only "easy" chance to see the team in person this season. The only other race within close driving distance is the ACC Championships in Charlottesville, VA. The other big meets are at Notre Dame's course, at Wisconsin, the Regionals in Louisville, and Nationals in Stillwater, OK.

The men's race starts at 5:40pm, and the women's starts at 6:20pm.

Meet and course info here at this website:
https://thexcchallenge.com/

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Thanks. Any theories on why the men continue to slowly slide towards the lower half of the ACC? Has Rollie stayed too long?

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Unfortunately, a little bit yea. Seems like some updated training methods have passed him by, and he can't keep up in recruiting any more. It's a shame, because he's pretty much the best coach in the history of NC State athletics, but it's time, man.

Bush and Starliper dominate as expected.

Also really promising debut for Grace Hartman, freshman from Ohio. Her 5k PR in high school was a 17:01 and she ran a 17:06 opener in a race the team was likely just training through and likely without doing any speed work yet. Really impressive.

The women leave no doubt‼️

NC State posts five of the top six finishes to win the Women's 5K Race at the Adidas XC Challenge. pic.twitter.com/4xWF9eR70o

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) September 16, 2022