Here's LetsRun's preview of the 2024 NCAA Cross Country Season, released today. They have the Wolfpack ranked #5 -- and after they conducted an interview with Coach Henes about a week ago and learning that Leah Stephens is unlikely to run this fall. If we had Stephens, we're likely either 2 or 3 in their ranking IMO. Henes says Brooke Rauber will not race early in the season, but expects her to race in the championship portion of this season.


https://www.letsrun.com/news/2024/09/2024-ncaa-xc-previewing-the-womens-top-10-from-5-notre-dame-to-1-nau/

Quote:

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5) NC State

2023 finish: 1st *Returners from NCAAs: 3/7 (lose #1, #2, #3) *Coach: Laurie Henes

This year's NC State team will look different to the one that has ruled over the NCAA the last three years. The Wolfpack's top three finishers from last year's NCAA team Katelyn Tuohy, Amaris Tyynismaa, and Sam Bush are all gone. So is Kelsey Chmiel, a three-time top-10 finisher at NCAAs. And Leah Stephens, who was 43rd last year as a true freshman, has been injured since the spring. Coach Laurie Henes said she does not want to rush the 19-year-old Stephens back before she is ready.

"She was training and had a bit of a setback," Henes said. "…I want to make sure she doesn't get into a cycle of that. So my guess is that we would not run [Leah] this fall. I just want to make sure she can have a long career."

If you're counting, that means the Wolfpack's five best runners from 2023 may not run a step for them this fall. And yet, this could still be a podium team. NC State is young, but there is a lot of talent on the roster. Grace Hartman (63rd NCAA XC, 15:28/32:28 pbs), Hannah Gapes (73rd, 15:58), and Gionna Quarzo (102nd, 15:51) all return from last year's title team. Brooke Rauber (90th at '22 NCAA XC) will not race early but Henes expects her to be ready for the championship portion of the season. And the Wolfpack bring in Fiona Smith (15:50/32:57), who was the NCAA DIII champion last year for St. Benedict.

NC State also has a bunch of first- or second-year runners with limited NCAA experience but impressive high school accomplishments:

• Angelina Napoleon (RS freshman): Won Gatorade national track & field athlete of the year in 2023 after breaking high school record in 2k steeplechase (6:18). NCAA steeple qualifier as true freshman (9:54).
• Jolena Quarzo (RS freshman): Younger sister of Gionna was 3rd at '24 US U20 XC champs.
• Ellie Shea (true freshman): Ran 4:40/9:02/15:46 for mile/3k/5k in high school and twice finished top-15 in World XC U20 race.
• Bethany Michalak (true freshman): 3rd at '22 NXN, 2nd at '23 NXN.

Henes said she expects Napoleon, Jolena Quarzo, and fellow redshirt freshman Kate Putman to be factors this year. When we spoke last week, Henes said she had yet to decide whether Shea and Michalak will redshirt this fall (though Shea raced in an NC State uniform at last week's adidas XC Challenge where she was 26th) but has been impressed by what she has seen from them so far.
"We'll have people that are a lot better than people might expect," Henes said. "Some of the development we've had has been really good."

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LetsRun.com's #10-#6 rankings also had a choice quote from Laurie in there:
https://www.letsrun.com/news/2024/09/2024-ncaa-xc-previewing-the-womens-top-10-from-10-oregon-to-6-tennessee-plus-individual-contenders/

Quote:

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Before we get to that, though, let's set the scene. On the women's side, the last three cross country seasons have belonged to North Carolina State. Powered by the trio of Katelyn Tuohy, Kelsey Chmiel, and Sam Bush, the Wolfpack won three straight titles, though they needed freshmen Leah Stephens and Grace Hartman to step up last year when Chmiel was sidelined with an injury the week of the race.

NC State still has a talented roster, but with Tuohy, Chmiel, and Bush moving on, the Wolfpack will need to develop new stars if they are to challenge for a fourth straight title.

"I don't know how we are ranked #1 [in the coaches' poll]," NC State coach Laurie Henes told LetsRun.com. "That's kind of ridiculous, we lost our top four. I think we'll have people that are a lot better than people might expect. Some of the development we've had has been really good."

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Laurie is a no bull****, no hype coach. That's one of the many things that makes her a champion

Results from the women's 6k at the Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invitational this morning in Chicago:

https://results.lakeshoreathleticservices.com/meets/40164/events/xc/1501011

Finished second in the team score to Alabama. Don't know about the details of this course, as far as whether it is a "fast" course or not, or possibly a little short of a 6k distance...but the times run by Hartman and Gapes are phenomenal if that is a true 6,000 meters.

Final Results!

The women secured 2nd place, and the men finished 7th at the Sean Earl Loyola Invitational. #WolfpackXC | #GoPack pic.twitter.com/z2ckFKOJC5

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) October 4, 2024

The NC State women's cross country team secured second place, while the men finished seventh at the Sean Earl Loyola Invitational on Friday.
The women's team scored 71 points, finishing behind Alabama, which took first with 57 points. Junior Grace Hartman led the Pack for the second time this season, placing fourth with a time of 19:16.96. Hannah Gapes finished sixth (20:05.98), and Fiona Smith rounded out the top three finishers for NC State in 14th (20:05.98).
The men's team placed seventh out of 15 teams with a score of 179. Graduate student Brett Gardner was the top finisher for the Pack, taking 11th place with a time of 23:17.97. Toby Gualter followed in 13th place at 23:26.10. Freshman Noah Valyo ran as an official member of NC State for the first time in his collegiate career. He finished third for the team, placing 37th with a time of 23:57.81.
Six members of the Pack also competed in the ECU Pirate Invitational. The results are listed below.

NEXT UP
The Wolfpack returns to action on Friday, Oct. 18, when it will travel to Elon University for the Phoenix Invitational.
FINAL RESULTS
Sean Earl Loyola Invitational
Men's 8k
(11) Brett Gardner // 23:17.97
(13) Toby Gualter // 23:26.10
(37) Noah Valyo // 23:57.81
(56) Matt Bogdan // 24:14.34
(64) JJ Malach // 24:17.58
(67) Wesley Larson // 24:18.16
(74) Ryan Motondo // 24:22.42

Women's 6k
(4) Grace Hartman // 19:16.96
(6) Hannah Gapes // 19:33.55
(14) Fiona Smith // 20:05.98
(19) Angelina Napoleon // 20:11.88
(28) Ellie Shea // 20:24.35
(49) Bethany Michalak // 20:46.80
(70) Kate Putman // 21:06.94
(97) Caroline Murrell // 21:19.79
ECU Pirate Invitational
Men's 8k
(34) Travis Koekemoer // 24:39.0
(42) Elliott McArthur // 24:58.3
(62) Marco Evans // 25:13.3
Women's 6k
(31) Olivia Haas // 22:36.9
(105) Sierra Collins // 23:47.5

Unattached
ECU Pirate Invitational
(13) Brayden Marshall // 24:17.6
(68) Tyler Surface // 25:19.1

https://gopack.com/news/2024/10/4/cross-country-wolfpack-women-secure-second-place-at-sean-earl-invitational

Video linked from the team's official IG account of a team practice on October 1st out at the American Tobacco Trail, doing repeat 1Ks. Includes a short interview with Coach Henes at the end on how the team is doing so far this year and managing expectations.

Our back-to-back-to-back NCAA Champions were honored as the Team of the Game at tonight's @PackFootball game! 🏆#WolfpackXC | #GoPack pic.twitter.com/kP3taEpriu

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) October 13, 2024

The NC State men's and women's cross-country teams will head to Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Oct. 19, to compete at the NCAA Pre-Nationals.

The NCAA Pre-Nationals serves as a precursor to the NCAA National Championship meet on Saturday, Nov. 23. This year's event will consist of three races. The "A" race, which NC State's men's and women's teams are in, consists of the top 32 teams selected from the most recent USTFCCCA regional and national rankings. The "B" race will feature the following 32 teams. The final race will be an open race for the teams not selected for the first two races, with "A" and "B" qualifying teams permitted to enter three additional athletes into that event.

Pack in the Polls

The women's team is currently ranked No. 5 nationally, and No. 1 in the Southeast Region, while the men have advanced to No. 8 in the Southeast Region as announced by the USTFCCCA in most recent rankings.

https://gopack.com/news/2024/10/14/nc-state-cross-country-teams-head-to-ncaa-pre-nationals

Getting ready for Pre-Nationals!#WolfpackXC | #GoPack pic.twitter.com/DEoAvJXJVb

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) October 16, 2024

Good morning, #WPN!

Live Results: https://t.co/k0IsC6Vi4E

⏰ 10:00 a.m. CT

Which races to follow:
Women's “A” Race - 10 a.m.
Men's “A” Race - 10:40 a.m.
Men's “Open” Race - 12 p.m. #wolfpackxc | #GoPack pic.twitter.com/3ZMfXuu4VH

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) October 19, 2024

Pre-Nationals Vibes!❤️#WolfpackXC | #GoPack pic.twitter.com/elkVx0kFth

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) October 19, 2024

Good luck to @Wolfpack_TFXC at the Pre-NCAAs today!

View the live results here ➡️ https://t.co/TpD9ue8XFM

Race Times (EST) ⬇️

🐺 12 PM - Women's "A" Race
🐾 12:40 PM - Men's "A" Race
🐺 2 PM - Men's Open Race #GoPack https://t.co/pJPskaaxLx

— NC State Athletics (@PackAthletics) October 19, 2024

Our women's squad finished 7th at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals!#WolfpackXC | #GoPack pic.twitter.com/kNYjH3BlnL

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) October 19, 2024

The final standings are in from the Men’s A Race!#WolfpackXC | #GoPack pic.twitter.com/LuDBfeL5VD

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) October 19, 2024

The NC State men's and women's cross country teams competed at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals, where the women finished seventh and the men placed 26th.

Both teams ran in the "A" race, which featured the top 32 teams in the country according to USTFCCCA national and regional rankings.

Women's 6K

Junior Grace Hartman led the Wolfpack for the third consecutive meet, finishing sixth in the 6K with a time of 19:15.2. Hannah Gapes followed closely, placing eighth at 19:31.0. Angelina Napoleon and Fiona Smith contributed to the team score, finishing 80th (20:29.4) and 88th (20:32.9), respectively. Freshman Ellie Shea rounded out NC State's top five with a 110th-place finish, clocking in at 20:41.5.

The women's team secured seventh place with 293 points.

Men's 8K

Senior Brett Gardner led the men's team with a 31st-place finish and a time of 23:18.2. Toby Gualter followed in 125th place (24:06.3). J.J. Malach and freshman Noah Valyo placed 149th (24:18.2) and 162nd (24:24.6), respectively. Ryan Motondo completed the scoring lineup with a 182nd-place finish at 24:30.2.

The men's team finished 26th with 640 points.

Open Race

In the men's open race, Marco Evans finished 58th with a time of 25:30.5, and Elliott McArthur placed 88th with a time of 27:22.2.

Phoenix Invitational

Senior Sierra Collins represented NC State at the Phoenix Invitational in Elon, N.C., on Friday, Oct. 18. She finished 16th in the women's 6K with a time of 23:00.4.

FINAL RESULTS

Women's 6k

Grace Hartman - 6th - 19:15.2

Hannah Gapes - 8th - 19:31.0

Angelina Napoleon - 81st - 20:29.4

Fiona Smith - 89th - 20:32.9

Ellie Shea - 111th - 20:41.5

Brooke Rauber - 118th - 20:44.8

Bethany Michalak - 140th - 20:57.2

Kate Putman - 206th - 21:30.6

Men's 8k

Brett Gardner - 31st - 23:18.2

Toby Gualter - 126th - 24:06.3

JJ Malach - 152nd - 24:18.2

Noah Valyo - 167th - 24:24.6

Ryan Motondo - 182nd - 24:30.2

Wesley Larson - 200th - 24:40.9

Matt Bogdan - 204th - 24:40.1

Jake Toomey - 219th - 25:01.3

Men's Open Race

Marco Evans - 58th - 25:30.5

Elliott McArthur - 88 - 27:22.2

https://gopack.com/news/2024/10/19/cross-country-nc-state-finishes-in-top-32-at-wisconsin-pre-nationals

https://www.dyestat.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=44531&do=videos&video_id=400139

Hartman and Gapes look great and have been great all year. The rest of them have to pick it up. Some of them started too far back and stayed too far back.
2k position, 4k position, finish position
Napoleon - 97, 88, 81
Shea - 161, 133, 111 - good upward movement, but too far back at the start
Rauber - 177, 151, 118 - good upward movement, but too far back at the start
Smith - 46, 45, 89 - good start, bad finish
Michalak - 139, 143, 140 - started too far back, didn't move up
Putman - 174, 212, 206 - started too far back, didn't move up

Still looks like a top-10 team, but they need some improvement to get in the top 5.

Men are hopeless. Burn it.

Week 4⃣ Poll!#WolfpackXC | #GoPack pic.twitter.com/njk46JztFH

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) October 22, 2024

Napoleon, Rauber and Smith will all finish 30 spots higher at nationals. Laurie always has her group ready late Nov. Question is if Shea can work her way up to top 50 by then. For them men I always wait and see what they look like at regionals. Geiger always prepares them for the 10k

Nairo said:

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Napoleon, Rauber and Smith will all finish 30 spots higher at nationals. Laurie always has her group ready late Nov. Question is if Shea can work her way up to top 50 by then. For them men I always wait and see what they look like at regionals. Geiger always prepares them for the 10k

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Hope you are right about Napoleon, Smith, and Rauber. Gapes' improvement has been phenomenal, and Hartman is unbelievably good. If this team had a healthy Stephens (to go with Hartman and Gapes), that would likely be three All-Americans finishing in the 10-30 range at Nationals, and this team would be in the mix to win the national title again, with just a "decent" effort from the 4 and 5 runners. I saw a comment from a teammate on Rauber's latest IG post that she basically had no base from the summer…so maybe that means she can have a big improvement over the next month. Hopefully a few of our 3 through 5 runners can improve significantly over the next 3 races, and we can make the podium.

Junior Grace Hartman was named ACC Performer of the Week on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, the league announced.

She led the Wolfpack for the third consecutive meet, finishing as the top NC State runner at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals on Saturday, Oct. 19. Hartman placed sixth in the women's "A" race, which featured the top 32 teams selected from the most recent USTFCCCA regional and national rankings. She completed the 6k with a time of 19:15.2.

https://gopack.com/news/2024/10/22/cross-country-grace-hartman-earns-first-acc-weekly-honor

The ACC Championship meet is this Friday, November 1st at the WakeMed Soccer Park cross country course in Cary, NC (only a 10 minute drive from the NC State campus). Over the last several seasons, they have rotated the site of the ACC Championships between 4 courses (Notre Dame, FSU, UVa, and NC State), and last had it at WakeMed in 2020. And with the addition of Cal and Stanford, they might add one of their courses to the rotation of sites for future ACC Championships. So anyone who's a fan of Wolfpack XC and living within a few hours drive of Cary should make an effort to come see this race, as it will only be hosted here around every 4 to 5 years.

The women's race is scheduled to start at 10:30 am, and the men's at 9:30 am. Then, of course, they will have the medal and trophy presentations after the completion of the women's race.

I'm pretty sure it's free admission, as there is nothing mentioned about tickets at the link below. I went to the ACC Championships at the UVa course two years ago, and there was no ticket required and also no fee for parking. So I would not expect there to be any fee for parking at the WakeMed Soccer complex either, and there has not been any parking fee for the Adidas challenge meet at WakeMed over the last 3 years as well. There is a large parking lot that is directly adjacent to where the start and finish areas of the course are located, that you come to about 200 yards after after turning off the main road (Chatham St) and driving in on the road into the complex.

https://theacc.com/feature/cross-country-championships

We’re hosting the ACC Cross Country Championships! 🏆

See you this Friday as we cheer on the Wolfpack! 🐺🔴

📣 Giveaway Alert! The first 150 fans will receive a free ACC T-shirt. Don’t miss out on this chance to support the Pack!#WolfpackXC | #GoPack pic.twitter.com/vfcHs6ZKll

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) October 30, 2024

https://flashresults.com/2025_Meets/xc/ACC/index.htm

Men at 9:40am
Women at 10:30am

Catch @Wolfpack_TFXC run in the ACC Championships right next door in Cary, NC tomorrow!
Men's 8k: 9:30 AM
Women's 6k: 10:30 AM
WakeMed Soccer Park
FREE t-shirt for the first 150 fans

Catch @Wolfpack_TFXC run in the ACC Championships right next door in Cary, NC tomorrow!

🏃 Men's 8k: 9:30 AM
🏃‍♀️ Women's 6k: 10:30 AM
📍 WakeMed Soccer Park
🎊 FREE t-shirt for the first 150 fans#GoPack https://t.co/N2LmjHQhDK

— NC State Athletics (@PackAthletics) October 31, 2024

Working hard to make our dreams a reality.#WolfpackXC | #GoPack pic.twitter.com/OgsPsF77iP

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) October 31, 2024

In addition to the current 8 team titles in a row, another active streak to keep an eye on tomorrow is that a Wolfpack woman has won the individual title for the last five years in a row - Elly Henes (2019), Dominique Clairmonte (2020), Kelsey Chmiel (2021), Katelyn Tuohy (2022, 2023).

The NC State men's and women's cross country teams will be back in action this Friday as they host the 2024 ACC Cross Country Championships in Cary, N.C.

ACC CHAMPIONSHIP MEET INFO:
Date: Friday, November 1, 2024
Location: WakeMed Soccer Park (Directions)
Schedule: CLICK HERE
Live Stream: ACCN
Live Results: CLICK HERE

https://gopack.com/news/2024/10/29/nc-state-cross-country-set-to-host-acc-championship-on-nov-1

The Wolfpack is on the run to victory 🏆

Good luck to @Wolfpack_TFXC at the ACC Championships!

📍 WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary, NC
🏃 Men's 8k: 9:30 AM
🏃‍♀️ Women's 6k: 10:30 AM #GoPack pic.twitter.com/jEo8Xjivyw

— NC State Athletics (@PackAthletics) November 1, 2024

ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY! 🏆

📍 WakeMed Soccer Park (Cary, NC)

MEN: 9:40am
WOMEN: 10:30am

📺: https://t.co/qwxWq9XDNS
📊: https://t.co/QK95Roc1CF#WolfpackXC | #GoPack pic.twitter.com/a3hGscoG24

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) November 1, 2024

I was never close enough to the front of any races for it to matter to me, but I always thought the organizers should use an electric cart instead of gas...

Looks like men finish 7th

Wake Forest wins over Stanford, unc-ch

Men secure 7th at the 2024 ACC Championships!👏#WolfpackXC | #GoPack pic.twitter.com/daSZcNllUM

— Pack Track & Field and Cross Country (@Wolfpack_TFXC) November 1, 2024

Notre Dame wins Women's Championship

NC State 5th