The NC State women's cross-country team placed eighth at the NCAA Cross Country Championships at the Zimmer Championship Course located on the campus of UW-Wisconsin Saturday morning.

Grace Hartman and Hannah Gapes led the Wolfpack throughout the race. Gapes held the No. 2 spot at the 1,000-meter split, while Hartman was 20th. By the 2,000-meter mark, Hartman gained momentum, maintaining a position between sixth and seventh before finishing fifth with a time of 19:39.5. Hartman was the first U.S. finisher in the race. Gapes followed closely, taking eighth, with a time of 19:42.7.

Both Hartman and Gapes earned All-American honors for their top-40 finishes.

Five other members of the Wolfpack competed Saturday: Brooke Rauber, Angelina Napoleon, Bethany Michalak, Kate Putman, and Ellie Shea. All five finished the course in under 22:02.5.

On the men's side, Brett Gardner represented NC State as an individual qualifier. He finished 122nd with a time of 30:01.7.

RESULTS
WOMENS
(5) GRACE HARTMAN // 19:39.5
(8) HANNAH GAPES // 19:42.7
(50) BROOKE RAUBER // 20:12.4
(96) ANGELINA NAPOLEON // 20:31.0
(160) BETHANY MICHALAK // 20:52.2
(203) KATE PUTMAN // 21:12.1
(247) ELLIE SHEA // 22:02.5

MENS
(122) BRETT GARDNER // 30:01.7


https://gopack.com/news/2024/11/23/nc-state-womens-cross-country-takes-eighth-at-nationals

147 points for the winner is unusually high. The door was open for a lot of teams to sneak in, but no one did. BYU has been dominant all year and won as expected.

Alabama finished in 10th place. If Hilda Olemomoi had not transferred out, they would have finished 2nd, just 8 points off the win.

Rauber had another strong race, following up on her good regionals performance; 30 seconds behind Gapes.
Napoleon stepped up. She was 1:20 and 1:30 behind Gapes at ACCs and Regionals, running 6th in each of those races. Stepped it up to :50 behind Gapes and 4th on the team.
Michalak and Shea didn't have great days. Michalak was capable of running 30 seconds faster based on her performances at ACCs and Regionals. 30 seconds from her could have been worth 70 points, which would have bumped the team up to 3rd-4th. Shoulda woulda coulda, hopes and dreams, if my aunt had balls, etc. You can't expect every runner to have amazing races on the same day.

Another year of improvement from these runners, getting Stephens back from injury, adding Englehardt and other freshmen, and they'll be in the mix for the win next year.

ACC teams in men's championship

unc-ch #6 - 246 points
Wake Forest #7 - 256 points
Notre Dame #10 - 337 points
Syracuse #11 - 342 points
Stanford #12 - 356 points
Virginia #21 - 487 points
Virginia Tech #26 - 597 points