Nothing like a 1-2 finish to start the year. Congrats to Sam Bush and Marlee Starliper for helping our Pack get off to a strong start. pic.twitter.com/Cb6oGK2r1B
— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) September 17, 2022
Nothing like a 1-2 finish to start the year. Congrats to Sam Bush and Marlee Starliper for helping our Pack get off to a strong start. pic.twitter.com/Cb6oGK2r1B
— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) September 17, 2022
Here are the top-5 teams in Week 2 of the @NCAATrackField DI Women's Cross Country National Coaches' Poll! #NCAAXC
— USTFCCCA (@USTFCCCA) September 20, 2022
1. @Wolfpack_TFXC
2. @UNMLoboXCTF
t3. @CUBuffsTrack
t3. @run4okstate
5. @StanfordXCTF
CHECK OUT THE REST!https://t.co/4xgI8pCuWb pic.twitter.com/8hiaErG0d0
Wolfpack and the Lobos leading the way. A whole Pack of Wolves!Wolfer79 said:
Here are the top-5 teams in Week 2 of the @NCAATrackField DI Women's Cross Country National Coaches' Poll! #NCAAXC
1. @Wolfpack_TFXC
2. @UNMLoboXCTF
t3. @CUBuffsTrack
t3. @run4okstate
5. @StanfordXCTF
CHECK OUT THE REST!
ustfccca.org/2022/09/featur…Here are the top-5 teams in Week 2 of the @NCAATrackField DI Women's Cross Country National Coaches' Poll! #NCAAXC
— USTFCCCA (@USTFCCCA) September 20, 2022
1. @Wolfpack_TFXC
2. @UNMLoboXCTF
t3. @CUBuffsTrack
t3. @run4okstate
5. @StanfordXCTF
CHECK OUT THE REST!https://t.co/4xgI8pCuWb pic.twitter.com/8hiaErG0d0
Quote:
Kelsey Chmiel, 9th and 6th at the last two NCAA XC meets, is also back after a foot injury sidelined her during the outdoor season. As a result, NC State coach Laurie Henes plans to be cautious with Chmiel this season.
"We want to limit the amount of time she spends in spikes," Henes says. "…And so we may not run all of the races but I believe we're going to be able to run the important races at the end of the season."
The thing is, NC State is so good that they could lose Tuohy or Chmiel and still be #1 in the country. This is a team that qualified five women to NCAAs in the 5,000 last spring, with four of them returning this fall: Tuohy (15:14), Marlee Starliper (15:36), Samantha Bush (15:42), and Savannah Shaw (15:33). Add in Tennessee grad Sydney Seymour, who ran in the 5000 as well (15:34 pb), Gianna Quarzo (NCAA qualifier in the 10k), Nevada Mareno (NCAA qualifier in the 1500), and Mariah Howlett (68th at NCAA XC in '19) and it will be a battle just to make the Wolfpack's top seven.
Indeed, one of Henes' biggest challenges will be making sure her top women don't get overly excited at practice and run each other into the ground.
"Anytime you have a group this talented and this deep, my job seems like a lot of holding people back," Henes says. "But they're doing a good job of that this year. We have enough people with enough experience that they realize this is a long season and you don't need to do anything heroic in training in September to be ready to go in November."
MEET DAY‼️
— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) September 30, 2022
⏰ 10:30am (women) / 11:15 am (men)
📍 Joe Piane Invitational (South Bend, Ind.)
📊 https://t.co/FJCzebhLOO pic.twitter.com/Q8ZrGnkoK4
Quote:
Timing could be right for Wolfpack to demonstrate might
After capturing its first NCAA Division 1 women's cross country title last year, North Carolina State has the potential to produce two more memorable achievements at 12:20 p.m. CDT in the women's 6-kilometer championship race.
North Carolina State is still seeking its first Nuttycombe title in program history, in addition to the Wolfpack looking to become the first women's program at the meet to secure victory the year after winning a national championship.
Four schools have won Nuttycombe and a Division 1 women's national title in the same year, with New Mexico achieving the feat twice in 2015 and 2017, joining Arkansas in 2019, Colorado in 2018 and Michigan State in 2014.
But no defending NCAA women's champion has ever triumphed at Nuttycombe the following season, which North Carolina State has the potential to accomplish at the Thomas Zimmer Championship course.
Katelyn Tuohy, the reigning Division 1 outdoor 5,000-meter champion, led the Wolfpack placing four athletes in the top 12 on Sept. 30 at the Joe Piane Invitational at Notre Dame's Burke Golf Course to produce a 55-68 victory over New Mexico.
New Mexico is the reigning women's champion at Nuttycombe, earning its third all-time victory last season, in addition to wins in 2015 and 2017.
North Carolina State, which also had Samantha Bush, Marlee Starliper and Tennessee transfer Sydney Seymour finish in the top 12 at Joe Piane, placed second in 2016 and again last year, finished third in 2017 and 2019, along with fourth in 2015 at Nuttycombe.
The Wolfpack entered last year's meet as the top-ranked team after prevailing against New Mexico at Joe Piane, but didn't compete with their top lineup and placed runner-up against the Lobos by a 93-102 margin.
Kelsey Chmiel, who secured second overall last year, hasn't raced this fall for North Carolina State. Although she is listed among the entries for the Wolfpack, it is uncertain if coach Laurie Henes will have Chmiel compete, much like she decided to rest All-American Hannah Steelman during last year's meet.
North Carolina State still possesses the depth to overcome Chmiel's absence with a roster that also includes Gionna Quarzo, Mariah Howlett, Nevada Mareno, Brooke Rauber and Savannah Shaw, but with a field featuring the top nine teams from last year's Division 1 final and 24 ranked programs overall, securing a first Nuttycombe title without her would definitely be a challenge.
Quote:
Q: What percent chance would you give the NC State women to win this race on Friday?
Maura: 90%.
Tuohy, Bush, Seymour and Starliper are just so. darn. good. Top-25 finishes aren't out of the question for that quartet. Their fifth scorer is obviously just as important as their first, so whoever takes over that roll this weekend, be that Kelsey Chmiel, Savannah Shaw, Gionna Quarzo or Mariah Howlett, gives the Wolfpack plenty of options to quickly close-out their top-five.
Either Chmiel or Shaw, likely the former, will be this team's fifth runner, although we don't exactly know what to expect from them, especially Chmiel who has potentially dealt with (unconfirmed) rumors of a foot issue.
Still, it's hard to see how this team loses.
Gavin: 85%. I'm about as bullish as Maura is, but it's difficult to give a team a near-definite chance of winning when we don't know for certain that they will be at full strength...although it is encouraging to see Chmiel and Shaw in the entries.
Still, that probably doesn't matter anyway given that the Wolfpack won the Joe Piane Invitational without Chmiel to begin with. New Mexico's depth does make the Lobos more of a factor in an even larger field, but NC State is very clearly the better team.
Garrett: Give me 92%.
NC State is just the best team in this field. If you want to beat them, you likely have to match their firepower, rather than their depth...and that's really hard to do.
With both Chmiel and Shaw returning, the New Mexico women will need to have multiple runners have the best races of their career to even come close to matching the Wolfpack during Friday's race.
Quote:
Q:Finish the sentence: Katelyn Tuohy will win by _______ seconds on Friday.
Maura: 17 seconds.
Emily Venters of Utah, Everlyn Kemboi of Utah Valley, Kaylee Mitchell of Oregon State and any of her NC State teammates could challenge Tuohy for the win, but a victory is still in the cards for the national title favorite.
Following her 15:50 (5k) and 12-second win over Mercy Chelangat at Joe Piane two weeks ago, Tuohy has shown us that she can distance herself from the field and still grind away for a fast time.
Gavin: 12 seconds.
Seven of the last eight margins of victory at this meet have come by less than 10 seconds with the exception being Ednah Kurgat in 2017 (16.2 seconds).
I see Tuohy winning comfortably, but running a fast enough time while not being pushed to the line, all while facing an elite field, is hard to do.
Her greatest challenger is probably Everlyn Kemboi, an NC State teammate, or someone from New Mexico or BYU. On paper, nobody in that group stands out as someone who can come within 15 seconds of challenging Tuohy head-to-head over 6000 meters.
Still, it's more likely than not that someone steps up and either separates from the second pack or pushes Tuohy for a decent portion of the race.
Garrett: 17 seconds. I agree with Maura.
I just don't know who is realistically going to come close to Katelyn Tuohy on Friday.
Admittedly, a lot of assumptions about how Tuohy is going to approach this race needs to be made in order to answer this question. But who in this field is going to come within 15 seconds of Tuohy if she was able to beat Mercy Chelangat by 12 seconds, a gap which largely came over the last 1000 meters?
Everlyn Kemboi, Emily Covert and teammate Samantha Bush are all interesting names to monitor, but if Tuohy wants to make a statement, then a 17-second margin of victory sounds realistic.
The NC State XC team competes in Wisconsin and Greenville today.
— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) October 14, 2022
Here are the live streams/results for the Nuttycombe Invitational.
Nuttycombe Live stream: https://t.co/1O5HW23F42
Nuttycombe results: https://t.co/SFj1q5RYqo#GoPack
jadawson said:
Women's B Race is in. We ran Shannon Sefton and Alyssa Hendrix in this race. Sefton finishes 34th in 21.43. Hendrix finishes 59th in 22:10.