Cross Country Set to Race in ACC Championships Saturday
10/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Oct. 28, 2010
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest men's and women's cross country teams will travel north to Boston, Mass. to compete in the 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships on Saturday. Hosted by Boston College, both races will take place at Franklin Park, with the women's 6k race set to begin at 10 a.m. and the men's 8k race to follow at 11 a.m.
The Demon Deacons will send a talented women's squad to compete that includes veterans Anna Nosenko and Cate Berenato, in addition to a handful of strong newcomers in Nicole Irving and Melanie Powers.
Nosenko has been a consistent performer for the Deacs over the last two meets, claiming the individual title at the Charlotte Invitational on Oct. 1 before finishing third overall at the Panorama Farms Invitational on Oct. 15.
"Anna is definitely the premier runner on our team, and her impact, at least from a performance standpoint, has shown that she has the potential to go pretty far this season," said head coach John Millar. "But I think that she's also really become a team leader, and has taken the role of encouraging the other girls."
Berenato has also been a key senior leader this season, as she has consistently finished within the top six spots on the team during each race. Her best performance of the season came at the Charlotte Invitational when she ran a time of 18:34.8 on the 5k course.
The Demon Deacons have high expectations for the freshman trio of Irving, Powers, and Lindsay Kerr. Irving has been one of the top runners for Wake Forest this year, showing no signs of nerves as she claimed first place in her collegiate debut at the Covered Bridge Open in Boone, N.C.
Powers and Kerr have also raced well for the Deacs on the year, and they will be expected to contribute to the team scoring totals on Saturday. The two finished right behind one another at the last meet, the Panorama Farms Invitational, with Powers crossing the line of the 6k course in 23:18 and Kerr coming in at 23:19. That mentality of running as a pack will prove crucial for the success of the team this weekend.
"What we need is our front runners to run well, and our 5th, 6th, and 7th person to step it up and make a move toward the front of the pack to keep that pack a little tighter," said Millar.
Also racing for the women's team on Saturday will be sophomore Allison Homer, redshirt freshman Casey Fowler, and senior Caitlin Crawford.
The Demon Deacon women will go up against a number of nationally ranked opponents, including No. 3 Florida State, No. 12 Duke, No. 17 North Carolina, No. 24 Virginia, No. 25 Boston College, and No. 28 North Carolina State.
On the men's side, seniors Tom Divinnie and Greg Billington will look to lead the Deacons up front, just as they have done all season. Racing in his first ACC Championships since transferring from Davidson, Divinnie expects tougher competition than in the Southern Conference.
"Compared to the SoCon, the ACC has many more ranked teams and elite individuals which makes it significantly harder to place high at the conference championship," Divinnie said. "With 5 teams ranked in the top 30 in the country, this will be no easy task."
Divinnie has placed first for the Deacons in three of the four meets this season, with his top time coming at Panorama Farms, where he ran a 24:18 on the 8k course and placed seventh overall. Billington has raced in two meets so far for the Deacons this season, finishing in second overall in each of them.
"He (Divinnie) and Greg have really been the stalwarts as far as directing the guys and pushing them," said Millar. "(With Tom), I think because he became the number one runner, the guys started looking up to him a little bit because he was older and a little more mature, but also because he was their leader on the course as well."
Sophomore Garret Drogosch will look to continue his strong performance in the ACC Championships, after finishing first for the Deacons and 41st overall last year in this same meet. Drogosch has run well all season, including a first place finish among Wake Forest runners in mid-September at the Wake Forest/Duke Dual.
Senior Marcus Dillon will return to racing action to compete in just his second race of the season. Dillon competed in the first meet of the year at the Covered Bridge Open, finishing in second place on the team and 10th overall. The return of Dillon should help to strengthen the top pack of Wake Forest runners.
"With the addition of Marcus Dillon back into the lineup, we will finally have a full, healthy squad running and we are excited to see what we can do," said Divinnie.
Also running for the men's squad on Saturday will be junior Paul Loeser, sophomores Tom Finneran and Nate Guthals, and redshirt freshman Devin Huizenga.
Wake Forest will face five nationally ranked foes on the men's side, including No. 8 Florida State, No. 14 Duke, No. 16 North Carolina State, No. 19 Virginia, and No. 25 North Carolina.
Players Mentioned
