Last year the women’s cross country team placed sixth at the ACC Championships, fourth at the Southeast Regional’s and 24th at the NCAA Championships. This year’s team looks to be a top ten finisher at National’s and compete for the ACC team title.
The team has the talent up front but will need the rest of the team to close the gap to win big in the ACC, which is arguably one of the strongest conferences in the nation.
In the USTFCCCA NCAA Division I preseason poll, there are six ACC teams within the top 25 teams.
“There are six teams on the women’s side ranked in the top 21 in the country right now,” Coach Laurie Henes said. “So it’s an extremely competitive conference just like last year.”
The women’s team is not backing down from the competitive nature of the ACC.
The goals are the same for this year just as they are for every other year: to compete for the ACC championship and to perform well as a team at the National level.
“We always want to have an opportunity to win the ACC Championships in Cross Country,” Henes said.
The team has the talent and the experience to compete for the ACC title. The team only lost one senior due to graduation but gained freshman Joanna Thompson, whom Henes said will have an immediate impact on the team.
Last year’s ACC individual champion, Laura Hoer, will lead the Pack. Hoer, a sophomore in human biology, won the ACC Championship, earning ACC Rookie of the Year, won the NCAA Southeast Region Athlete of the Year and finished 21st at the NCAA Championships in 2010.
The accolades Hoer collected in her freshman year alone are not easily forgettable. But that’s exactly what she intends to do — forget about last year and focus on this year.
Hoer was injured for most of the winter and spring season this past year but looks to have a brand new slate this season.
“I really want to try and almost forget that last year happened for my confidence,” Hoer said, “and try and build again and try to perform best I can this year; to be able to perform for the team so we all can improve.”
Hoer will be closely followed by senior Andie Cozzarelli , who has continuously improved each year during her career at State. Cozzarelli capped an outstanding junior year by gaining All-American status in the 10,000-meter this past spring.
Cozzarelli was also All-ACC and All-Southeast Region athlete last year during cross country season. Cozzarelli believes her success this past spring will continue into the fall and help position her team for an ACC championship.
“Just having raced a 10k , it’s a longer race and the mental focus is a lot tougher,” Cozzarelli said. “You have so much longer to be out there trying to keep the focus together to finish the race and so I think this will definitely help translate to my mental focus in races because I feel I struggle a lot with that during cross country.”
The team has the talent and experience up front to compete at the National level but needs help from the rest of the pack.
Henes emphasizes the importance for the runners to keep a tight pack and close the gap between one another.
“Our gap from 3-4, we just had much too big of a gap last year,” Henes said. “So we really need to close the gap. We have to have seven people running well at regional’s and national’s.”
The team will begin its quest for a “tighter pack” this weekend as the ladies kick off their season at the Adidas Cross Country Challenge in Cary.
