Quietly we're only 2 months from NC state opening their season on Sep 15th at the Adidas XC Challenge (like every year). The rest of the schedule isn't announced yet but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same as last year:
Adidas Challenge - Joe Piane - Nuttycombe - ACC - Regionals - Nationals
NC State returns 5 of its top 7 from last season (per Gopack roster) where they finished 11th at NCAA's.
Returners and their finish last year at Nationals:
Brett Gardner - 64th
Hannes Burger - 76th
Ian Harrison - 80th
Jake Toomey - 227th
JJ Malach - 248th
Key Losses:
Ian Shanklin, Robinson Snider, David Vorbach
The people that i expect to threaten for varsity/travel spots this year are:
Brett Gardner - The top returner for the men's side with All-American Ian Shanklin graduating. He really leveled up this past XC season He really only had one underpermoance when he was 49th overall and 5th on the team at ACC's, otherwise he was stellar all year. Leading the team at Nuttycombe and finishing 2nd to Shanklin at the remaining big meets (Joe Piane, Regionals, Nationals). During indoors he set great PB's in the Mile and 5k before redshirting outdoors.
Hannes Burger - He's an older student who has been out of track eligibility for a while (did not run indoors or outdoors this past year), but he still has his COVID year for XC if he wants it and he's both listed in the Gopack roster and in the student directory so i'm assuming he's running XC this year. He had a late start last season working his way back from injury and didn't finish a race until ACC's (opened at Nuttycombe but DNF'd). But once he found his fitness at ACC's he was solid, finishing 3rd on the team there, 5th at regionals, and 3rd at Nationals again. His quality and experience in the middle of the lineup will be invaluable this season as the Men try to replace Shanklin's All-American ability.
Ian Harrison - Like Gardner, he tremendously leveled up his game this past XC season. He sat out the Joe Piane meet, but finished between 2nd and 4th on the team every other meet of the year, showing great consistency. Then he took it a step further and dropped huge PB's during indoors of 7:53 in the 3k and 13:35 in the 5k, being close to qualifying to nationals in both. Much like Gardner he then went on to redshirt outdoors. He has the potential in him to finish dozens of spots higher at nationals than his 80th place finish last year.
Toby Gualter - Transfer in from Eastern Michigan. Should be a really strong and consistent middle of the lineup scorer for us. Hasn't raced at XC Nationals before (similar to Abby Loveys on the women's side their teams just weren't good enough), but he's shown he's a strong performer on both the grass and track and had a great year of improvement overall. He was 2nd at his conference meet and 22nd in his regional in XC, before setting PB's in the Mile and 3k indoors, and the 1500, 5k and 10k outdoors. His transfer really helps us plug the hole left by Robinson Snider who graduated.
Dan McGoey - Have high hopes for him to be the one to step up for the team this year. He was top 5 last season, finishing 4th on the team at Joe Piane and 5th at Nuttycombe before succumbing to injury and having to redshirt indoors as well. He came back strong in outdoors setting a new PB in the 10k so i'm hopeful his injuries are past him and he can get back to his strong performances in XC.
Jake Toomey - Generally more of a middle distance, this was his fullest schedule in XC yet and it paid off as he was running better times than ever before. Sure a 227th placing at Nationals isn't stellar, but its way better than he was doing in prior years and shows he has potential on the grass. I dont think many expected him to make the top 7 last year but he was 5th on the team at Joe Piane, and then 6th at each of ACC's, Regionals, and Nationals. He set new PB's in indoors in the Mile, and outdoors in the 1500 and 5k. Hoping for another step forwards for him this fall.
JJ Malach - Had never been in the travel squad for any of the big meets prior to this past fall, however he gained some great experience against the class of the country and he took that forward with him into a strong track campaign. He set a new PB in the 3k indoors, and then set new PB's in each of the 1500, 5k and 10k outdoors culminating in coming in 7th in the 10k at ACC's. Have hopes he can take another step up this year to be the Brooke Rauber of the men's squad who can step up and have a great day if one of the top runners is having a bad race.
Kevin Antczak - The Marlee Starliper of the men's team. Was a mega talent out of high school but has struggled with injuries his whole college career. He had a healthy and solid outdoors season in 2022 and was building on that well, finishing 7th on the team at Joe Piane and Nuttycombe before DNF'ing ACC's to end his season and then redshirting indoors. He came back and ran a few 5k's outdoors but it wasn't as good as his 2022 outdoors season. Hopefully he can get in a full summer of base building and have a solid season this fall.
Travis Koekemoer - Had never run XC in college before transferring to NC State in summer 2022 and had a solid season, finishing 6th on the team at Joe Piane and Nuttycombe before finishing 9th at ACC's. He set a new PB in the 3k indoors before having a solid but not spectacular outdoors season. Now that he has experience with NC State's training and XC i hope he can take a step forwards.
Matt Bogdan - Last fall XC is his only season competing for NC state so far after redshirting his whole freshman season in 21-22 and then getting injured after XC. He has talent and after getting into the travel team last season and finishing 10th on the team at ACC's the hope is that he can keep that momentum going.
Joe Jaster - Transferred in from D3 Union Cross after being a really strong runner at the D3 level. His PB's aren't the greatest but the hope is that he can step up with the step up in competition as well as his own training partners.
That is probably it for athletes i'd expect to compete for top 7 barring injuries or surprises. Miles Ally has run in the travel squad a few times and i'm really high on Jimmy Mullarkey who redshirted all of last year. Given our really strong depth (at least at the back end) i would be surprised if any of the freshman ran XC this fall. None of them are likely to make an impact this year and are more developmental prospects.
Adidas Challenge - Joe Piane - Nuttycombe - ACC - Regionals - Nationals
NC State returns 5 of its top 7 from last season (per Gopack roster) where they finished 11th at NCAA's.
Returners and their finish last year at Nationals:
Brett Gardner - 64th
Hannes Burger - 76th
Ian Harrison - 80th
Jake Toomey - 227th
JJ Malach - 248th
Key Losses:
Ian Shanklin, Robinson Snider, David Vorbach
The people that i expect to threaten for varsity/travel spots this year are:
Brett Gardner - The top returner for the men's side with All-American Ian Shanklin graduating. He really leveled up this past XC season He really only had one underpermoance when he was 49th overall and 5th on the team at ACC's, otherwise he was stellar all year. Leading the team at Nuttycombe and finishing 2nd to Shanklin at the remaining big meets (Joe Piane, Regionals, Nationals). During indoors he set great PB's in the Mile and 5k before redshirting outdoors.
Hannes Burger - He's an older student who has been out of track eligibility for a while (did not run indoors or outdoors this past year), but he still has his COVID year for XC if he wants it and he's both listed in the Gopack roster and in the student directory so i'm assuming he's running XC this year. He had a late start last season working his way back from injury and didn't finish a race until ACC's (opened at Nuttycombe but DNF'd). But once he found his fitness at ACC's he was solid, finishing 3rd on the team there, 5th at regionals, and 3rd at Nationals again. His quality and experience in the middle of the lineup will be invaluable this season as the Men try to replace Shanklin's All-American ability.
Ian Harrison - Like Gardner, he tremendously leveled up his game this past XC season. He sat out the Joe Piane meet, but finished between 2nd and 4th on the team every other meet of the year, showing great consistency. Then he took it a step further and dropped huge PB's during indoors of 7:53 in the 3k and 13:35 in the 5k, being close to qualifying to nationals in both. Much like Gardner he then went on to redshirt outdoors. He has the potential in him to finish dozens of spots higher at nationals than his 80th place finish last year.
Toby Gualter - Transfer in from Eastern Michigan. Should be a really strong and consistent middle of the lineup scorer for us. Hasn't raced at XC Nationals before (similar to Abby Loveys on the women's side their teams just weren't good enough), but he's shown he's a strong performer on both the grass and track and had a great year of improvement overall. He was 2nd at his conference meet and 22nd in his regional in XC, before setting PB's in the Mile and 3k indoors, and the 1500, 5k and 10k outdoors. His transfer really helps us plug the hole left by Robinson Snider who graduated.
Dan McGoey - Have high hopes for him to be the one to step up for the team this year. He was top 5 last season, finishing 4th on the team at Joe Piane and 5th at Nuttycombe before succumbing to injury and having to redshirt indoors as well. He came back strong in outdoors setting a new PB in the 10k so i'm hopeful his injuries are past him and he can get back to his strong performances in XC.
Jake Toomey - Generally more of a middle distance, this was his fullest schedule in XC yet and it paid off as he was running better times than ever before. Sure a 227th placing at Nationals isn't stellar, but its way better than he was doing in prior years and shows he has potential on the grass. I dont think many expected him to make the top 7 last year but he was 5th on the team at Joe Piane, and then 6th at each of ACC's, Regionals, and Nationals. He set new PB's in indoors in the Mile, and outdoors in the 1500 and 5k. Hoping for another step forwards for him this fall.
JJ Malach - Had never been in the travel squad for any of the big meets prior to this past fall, however he gained some great experience against the class of the country and he took that forward with him into a strong track campaign. He set a new PB in the 3k indoors, and then set new PB's in each of the 1500, 5k and 10k outdoors culminating in coming in 7th in the 10k at ACC's. Have hopes he can take another step up this year to be the Brooke Rauber of the men's squad who can step up and have a great day if one of the top runners is having a bad race.
Kevin Antczak - The Marlee Starliper of the men's team. Was a mega talent out of high school but has struggled with injuries his whole college career. He had a healthy and solid outdoors season in 2022 and was building on that well, finishing 7th on the team at Joe Piane and Nuttycombe before DNF'ing ACC's to end his season and then redshirting indoors. He came back and ran a few 5k's outdoors but it wasn't as good as his 2022 outdoors season. Hopefully he can get in a full summer of base building and have a solid season this fall.
Travis Koekemoer - Had never run XC in college before transferring to NC State in summer 2022 and had a solid season, finishing 6th on the team at Joe Piane and Nuttycombe before finishing 9th at ACC's. He set a new PB in the 3k indoors before having a solid but not spectacular outdoors season. Now that he has experience with NC State's training and XC i hope he can take a step forwards.
Matt Bogdan - Last fall XC is his only season competing for NC state so far after redshirting his whole freshman season in 21-22 and then getting injured after XC. He has talent and after getting into the travel team last season and finishing 10th on the team at ACC's the hope is that he can keep that momentum going.
Joe Jaster - Transferred in from D3 Union Cross after being a really strong runner at the D3 level. His PB's aren't the greatest but the hope is that he can step up with the step up in competition as well as his own training partners.
That is probably it for athletes i'd expect to compete for top 7 barring injuries or surprises. Miles Ally has run in the travel squad a few times and i'm really high on Jimmy Mullarkey who redshirted all of last year. Given our really strong depth (at least at the back end) i would be surprised if any of the freshman ran XC this fall. None of them are likely to make an impact this year and are more developmental prospects.
