The men’s cross country team found out Sunday that they would be making the trip to Terre Haute, Indiana for the NCAA Championship meet. The team received one of thirteen at-large bids to the meet based on their performance at past meets, including their 10th place finish at the NCAA Pre-National meet in October.
“We’ve really only not made it twice in about the past 15 years, so it feels good to make it as a team,” sixth-year runner Bobby Mack said. “Individually, I haven’t been there since 2004, so I’m pretty excited about it.”
On Saturday, the N.C. State men finished 3rd at the NCAA Southeast Regional meet behind the University of Virginia and William & Mary. The team needed at least a 2nd place finish to qualify outright for nationals.
“There were those who said William & Mary were equal to Virginia, so we knew we had to be third if we wanted to qualify.” coach Rollie Geiger said. “Third isn’t what we were looking for but the whole goal of the program is to qualify for nationals and that’s what the purpose of regionals is.”
Bobby Mack, a sixth-year runner, led the way for the Wolfpack, taking 2nd overall behind Liberty’s Samuel Chelanga. Mack finished the 10K course in 30:17.8.
“Bobby was second to one of the favorites (Samuel Chelanga) to win a national title,” Geiger said. “This course is Bobby’s home and for him to run on that level at that day at home is terrific.”
Geiger praised the veteran’s strong effort after returning to the program. In addition, the coach noted that Mack and redshirt junior John Martinez (8th, 30:32.7) were critical to the team’s chances of qualifying.
“For us to qualify, they both had to have very big races and, they did,” Geiger said. “They both ran at a very high level and essentially carried us to the National Championship.”
Martinez, however, continued to remain humble despite posting one of his best finishes of the season in such a highly competitive field.
“It was okay. I ran alright, but I got a little ahead of myself early on in the race until Bobby Mack told me to kind of relax a little bit,” Martinez said. “There were four guys right in front of me, so I could’ve finished a little higher than I did.”
On the women’s side, the Pack finished 18th out of the 33-team field. Freshman Emily Pritt paced State finishing 16th with a time of 21:30.3.
“Her race was off the charts,” Geiger said. “For Emily to run so well with just four or five days of practice over a three week period is terrific.”
“It’s bright for the future of the program,” Geiger said. “The freshmen have learned about the competitiveness of college and hopefully they will run at a higher level next season.”
