Deacons Prepare for ACC Championships
10/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Oct. 31, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest cross country teams head to Chapel Hill, N.C., where they will compete at the 2008 ACC Championships hosted by North Carolina on Saturday. The women's 6k race begins at 10 a.m. at the Ranson-Hamrick Cross Country Course. The men's event follows at 11 a.m.
The 25th-ranked women's team remains atop this week's southeast regional rankings by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll. The strong ACC competition on Saturday will feature two other top-30 teams from the USTFCCCA poll in No. 3 Florida State and No. 30 Duke.
The Demon Deacons beat the Blue Devils by 18 points in the last regular season meet for both squads at the 28-team Penn State Invitational on Oct. 17.
Wake Forest also has matched up against Florida State this season. On Sept. 19, the Deacons finished third in the 4.6k event behind Florida State and Virginia Tech at the Virginia Tech Invitational.
The Deacons have consistently climbed in the polls throughout the season and are primed for Saturday's race.
"I expect to see consistency and heart," head coach Annie Bennett said in regards to Saturday's meet. "This team is running similar marks to our 2002 squad that tied for first in the ACC."
This year's men's event will also feature three top-30 teams among the contenders: No. 14 Virginia, No. 15 Florida State and No. 29 NC State. Wake Forest is coming off a 27th-place finish at the Penn State Invitational but returns sophomore Greg Billington and freshman Paul Loeser on Saturday. Billington was the top finisher for the Deacons at the ACC Championships last year with a time of 24:57.7. He has led the Deacons in each of the meets in which he's participated this season, while Loeser has been a top-three Deacon finisher each time he's raced.
In 2007, both the Wake Forest women's and men's teams finished seventh in the ACC Championships hosted by Virginia on Oct. 27. Virginia placed four runners in the top five individual finishers to capture the men's title. NC State's Chris Kollar was the individual champion with a time of 24:01 in the 8k event. Florida State captured the women's title, led by individual champion Susan Kuijken, for the first time in school history.
Nathan Sisco was the most-recent individual champion for the Deacons at the ACC Championships, winning the men's event in 2001. Janelle Kraus was the last individual champion for the women's team. She captured the title in 1997 and 1998.
The Deacon men have won four ACC Championships in program history: 1989, 1990, 1993 and 1994. Wake Forest's last men's All-ACC honoree was Sean Stevens in 2005.
The Deacon women won their sole ACC Championship in 2002, sharing the honors with NC State. However, the women have been runner-ups on six occasions. Wake Forest has had at least one women's All-ACC honoree five of the past six seasons.
Following the ACC Championships, Wake Forest will host the NCAA Southeast Regionals at Tanglewood Park, N.C., on Nov. 15.
- WakeForestSports.com -
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