Wake Forest University
Wake Forest Invitational
Oliver Leads Deacons at Wake Forest Invitational
9/20/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Sept. 20, 2013
Results | Men's Results 
| Women's Results
By Scott Wortman, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeTrack)
KERNERSVILLE, N.C. - The Demon Deacons got a sneak peek of the 2013 ACC Championship course on Friday, as they hosted six teams for the Wake Forest Invitational at Beeson Park in Kernersville.
The meet served as a preview for the conference championship to be held on the course and hosted by Wake Forest on Nov. 1. ACC rivals Clemson and Florida State joined the Deacons at the meet on Friday.
Sophomore Kent Garrett and senior Alexander Rose finished eighth and ninth, respectively, to lead the Wake Forest men to a second-place finish out of six teams, while junior Kaitlyn Oliver paced the Deacon women who finished fourth of six teams.
"I think our men truly had a very nice showing, did well working together, pacing early," said Wake Forest distance coach Brad Hunt. "It's the first time we've actually been out on our home course, by design, so that we can have a chance to learn from it and come back and train on it a little more. I think the course is honest. I think the coaches like it. And I certainly think it's real cross country with the grass and terrain and different things.
"Our women, I think we were less than our best. Unfortunately, it's hard to be here at home and not put our best foot forward. I think at the same time, it's a young group that is awfully resilient. We're looking forward to seeing how much better we can be."
The Deacon women took fourth place with 97 team points. Florida State won the meet 19 points following by Ohio University and Miami (Ohio). Clemson was fifth with 104 points.
Oliver, in her first race of the season, was the first Deacon across the line for the women, coming in 16th in 22:00.23. It marked the first meet in her career where she led the squad.
"It was nice seeing the course since we're going to race here for ACCs, so it was great to come out here," said Oliver. "It was the first time a bunch of us had raced, so it was nice to rely on our teammates and race our training partners and get a good feel for how it's going to be the rest of the season."
Graduate student Kristin Weisse continued the strong start to her Wake Forest career, finishing 20th in 22:09.95. It marked the third-straight meet where Weisse has been in the Deacons' top two finishers.
Sophomore Samantha Jones used a strong start to finish 22nd overall in 22:22.23.
Junior Aubrey Waggoner, coming off an individual title at the Virginia Tech Invitational, finishing in 22:34.20 for 25th place.
Freshman Ellie Abrahamson rounded out the Deacons' scoring five not far behind Waggoner with a time of 22:38.66 for 26th place.
Sophomore Kathleen Darling took 34th in 22:51.19, while freshman Kathryn Lazarchick finished 50th in 23:53.05.
Freshman Marie Johnston completed the Deacons' squad with a time of 24:52.52 for 62nd overall.
On the men's side, Garrett and Rose were the sixth and seventh scoring runners to cross the finish line, coming in less than two seconds apart. Garrett, who has led the Deacons in all three meets this season including an individual title at the Virginia Tech Invitational, finished in 25:18.81. Rose, who was competing in his first meet of the year, followed in 25:20.23.
"You could arguably say for both of them (Garrett and Rose), they had their best showing in a Wake Forest uniform in cross country," said Hunt. "I think it was neat how they both got to where they finished in different ways, and that's what they need to do to be successful. We'll need that from our guys, even Kent as a sophomore. We're going to need him to continue to compete that way. We need Alex Rose and the veterans to do that as well."
Freshman Jacob Poyner and junior Connor Crowley were the Deacons' third and fourth runners, finishing 15th and 16th respectively. Poyner crossed the line in 25:37.69 with Crowley just behind in 25:38.77.
Senior Kyle Graves, racing in his first meet for the Deacons since transferring from Maryland last season, rounded out Wake Forest's scoring five. Graves finished 18th in 25:42.23.
Sophomore Billy Fayette was not far behind Graves, finishing in 25:52.51 for 21st place. Sophomore Ryan Horgan closed out the Deacons' top seven runners by finishing 41st in 26:35.45.
Former Deacon Garrett Drogosch, who exhausted his eligibility last fall, ran unattached in the meet and finished sixth out of 68 total runners in 25:13.85.
The Wake Forest men finished with 56 points, second to only Florida State who had 31 points on the day. The Deacons easily out-paced ACC rival Clemson, who took third with 83 points.
"I hope with the men that they recognize that we're better than people probably think we are. But we don't have much room for error, so the guys have to take care of themselves," said Hunt. "Our biggest races are literally in the next six weeks. We have a big one up in Lehigh--a fast, flat course with 37 teams out there. Then we go to the Pre-National Meet. John [Millar] and I felt like it was important to get these guys on the plane and go run against the best teams in the country and see how we stack up.
"I think on the women's side, it was a little bruise to the ego because I know mine is. We don't have our best folks out there, by design, but we'll get the whole group back here in the next couple weeks and we need them. But, at the same time, while they're away who's going to step up and take care of business? I think our women realize we can't just talk about it, we have to do it."
Wake Forest will have next weekend off before returning to action at the Paul Short Invitational in Lehigh, Pa., on Saturday, Oct. 5.
Players Mentioned
