Michelle Sikes, Deacons Chase ACC Championship Saturday

Oct. 27, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The first ACC championship of the fall season is up for grabs here Saturday morning when men's and women's teams compete in the ACC men's and women's cross country championships at Panorama Farms.

The women's 6k race begins at 10 a.m., followed one hour later by the men's 8k race.

Wake Forest is one of several men's and women's teams that will be in the hunt for team titles on Saturday. Demon Deacon senior Michelle Sikes is one of the favorites to win individual honors in the women's race. Sikes and NC State's Julia Lucas have been two of the most successful cross country runners nationally this fall.

Sikes, who has two first-place finishes and one second-place finish this fall, has a chance to become Wake Forest's first individual champion on the women's side since Janelle Kraus won back-to-back titles in 1997 and 1998. The only other Wake Forest individual champion was Seana Arnold in 1989.

Six of the nation's top-30 ranked women's teams are in the ACC, including second-ranked N.C. State, 14th-ranked Florida State, 16th-ranked Duke, 25th-ranked and host Virginia, 28th-ranked Boston College and 29th-ranked Virginia Tech.

Duke is the defending champion on the women's side. The Blue Devils produced just 20 points to win the 2005 crown with all five runners finishing in the top seven. Duke's Shannon Rowbury won the individual title crossing the finish line in a time of 19:03.2. NC State finished second with 91 points, while Wake Forest place third with 104 points.

Eighth-ranked Florida State, ninth-ranked NC State and 29th-ranked Virginia are the likely favorites in the men's race. The Seminoles, led by two-time defending ACC individual champion Andrew Lemoncello, are coming off a second-place finish in the blue division of the NCAA Pre-National Meet two weeks ago. The Cavaliers' Jan Foerster captured the men's title in the white division of the Pre-National Meet finishing in a time of 23:45.

Last year, Virginia captured just its second men's title in school history and first since 1984 as all five runners placed in the top eight. Florida State followed closing in second place with 38 points, while NC State finished in third with 103 points. Lemoncello earned individual honors for the second straight year, crossing the finish line in a winning time of 23:43.1.

The Wake Forest men are in search of their first ACC championship since winning in 1993 and 1994 under then-coach John Goodridge. A Deacon hasn't won individual honors on the men's side since Nathan Sisco in 2001.

NC State leads all schools on both the women's and men's side with 19-1 and 13 ACC Championships, respectively. The Wolfpack women shared the ACC Championship with Wake Forest in 2002.

For complete results of the 2006 ACC Cross Country Championship, stay tuned to www.theacc.com.

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Michelle Sikes, Deacons Chase ACC Championship Saturday

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