Wake Forest Athletics
Friday, October 16
Kernersville, N.C.
Women: 4:30 P.M.; Men: 5:15 P.M.
Wake Forest University
vs
vs. UNC & NC State
Wake Forest Cross Country Prepped for Kernersville Meet Friday
10/15/2020 1:25:00 PM | Cross Country
The Demon Deacons will compete against North Carolina and NC State in the last meet before ACCs.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The men's and women's cross country programs will be traveling twenty minutes east as they compete against North Carolina and NC State in their second three-team meet of the 2020 campaign this Friday in Kernersville, North Carolina.
The races will be held at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex with the women's race beginning at 4:30 p.m. and the men's race at 5:15 p.m.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the second and final meet before Wake Forest competes for the ACC Championship. The programs have significantly fewer meets than a normal season and also an altered training schedule.
"Obviously there was a big adjustment at first. We didn't get through a team camp, which is part of what we do to allow the team to get to know each other and start working well with each other," Director of Track & Field and Cross Country John Hayes said. "The team doesn't get to hang out as a group as much, so the team bonding, which is really important to cross country teams, wasn't there. Other than that, they've gotten into a rhythm. They're training great right now. They know they have to wear masks. They've done a good job of staying healthy and they've adjusted well."
This race will be a gauge of the team's preparation and training as they look to build upon their performance in Virginia three weeks ago in which the men finished second and the women finished third.
"The difference was we traveled up there and travel was a little more uncomfortable with the procedures. But, we trained hard and got a race out of the way," "Our team is all over the place right now. Some have opted out for the semester, they didn't want to be contact traced. That's been the biggest adjustment, we don't have everybody here. I'm coaching people all around the world right now. I'm telling you, these young people we have on our team are really good students, they're aware of what's going on and what to do. They're choosing to do the right thing way more often than not. They've become disciplined and a lot more confident. That's just where we are as a program and it keeps getting better."
On the men's side, Jack Tiernan, Carter Coughlin and freshman Luke Tewalt all finished in the top 10 with Tiernan finishing second (24:11.2) and Coughlin third (24:13.5) overall. Tewalt showed immense amounts of talent and great potential as he finished his first ever college race with a time of 24:33.7 which placed him ninth overall. However, Coach John Hayes looks to the rest of the team, but especially Brent Bailey, Ben Mitchell and Michael Moerk, who finished 17th, 18th, and 22nd respectively to close the gap in the back part of the lineup, which he believes they are all capable of doing.
"We've got to find the back part of our lineup, the 3-4-5 has to be shored up. We can't effectively do well at the ACC level without a 3-4-5," he said. "We'll need some people to step up at the conference meet if we're going to achieve our goals. I'm confident in where we've come on our training."
In addition to a solid performance by the men's top runners, freshmen Pedro Bravo and Niall Ryan both competed in their first ever collegiate race posting times of 25:46.3 and 26:03.0 respectively. The two hope to grow as runners as they continue to race on the collegiate circuit.
On the women's side, Madeline Rehm is coming off her career-best time, 17:36.0, which placed her 11th in the 5k. But she, in addition to her five other teammates who finished in the top 20 including senior Anna Campbell and junior Meredith Helton, look to build off their strong individual performances as this young team gains more experience. Coach Ashley Bastron has a lot of confidence in this young team as she looks toward her three freshmen runners Alli Boehm, Hana Catsimanes and Elise Smoot. Participating in their first collegiate meet, all three finished in the top 30 with times of 18:14.5, 18:34.6 and 18:59.3, respectively.
While the teams prepare for this meet, they also look ahead to the ACC Championship on Oct. 30, in hopes of the men and women topping their fifth and sixth-place finishes from last season. That meet will be the first time either team has ran against more than two other programs this season, making for a realistic and exciting atmosphere.
"We're super excited about the ACCs. I feel like our team has handled the gap in training from March until we returned in August with maturity. They didn't panic, they came in pretty fit," Hayes added. "I think we can do quite well at ACCs. It's a quick season, but we're happy to have it. It was so awesome to be out there on that course in Charlottesville when two months ago we thought there was a high probability that wouldn't occur. What all the schools in the ACC have done and with the administrators giving us a chance to compete, I'm excited to match up against the 14 ACC teams and see what we can do."
The races will be held at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex with the women's race beginning at 4:30 p.m. and the men's race at 5:15 p.m.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the second and final meet before Wake Forest competes for the ACC Championship. The programs have significantly fewer meets than a normal season and also an altered training schedule.
"Obviously there was a big adjustment at first. We didn't get through a team camp, which is part of what we do to allow the team to get to know each other and start working well with each other," Director of Track & Field and Cross Country John Hayes said. "The team doesn't get to hang out as a group as much, so the team bonding, which is really important to cross country teams, wasn't there. Other than that, they've gotten into a rhythm. They're training great right now. They know they have to wear masks. They've done a good job of staying healthy and they've adjusted well."
This race will be a gauge of the team's preparation and training as they look to build upon their performance in Virginia three weeks ago in which the men finished second and the women finished third.
"The difference was we traveled up there and travel was a little more uncomfortable with the procedures. But, we trained hard and got a race out of the way," "Our team is all over the place right now. Some have opted out for the semester, they didn't want to be contact traced. That's been the biggest adjustment, we don't have everybody here. I'm coaching people all around the world right now. I'm telling you, these young people we have on our team are really good students, they're aware of what's going on and what to do. They're choosing to do the right thing way more often than not. They've become disciplined and a lot more confident. That's just where we are as a program and it keeps getting better."
On the men's side, Jack Tiernan, Carter Coughlin and freshman Luke Tewalt all finished in the top 10 with Tiernan finishing second (24:11.2) and Coughlin third (24:13.5) overall. Tewalt showed immense amounts of talent and great potential as he finished his first ever college race with a time of 24:33.7 which placed him ninth overall. However, Coach John Hayes looks to the rest of the team, but especially Brent Bailey, Ben Mitchell and Michael Moerk, who finished 17th, 18th, and 22nd respectively to close the gap in the back part of the lineup, which he believes they are all capable of doing.
"We've got to find the back part of our lineup, the 3-4-5 has to be shored up. We can't effectively do well at the ACC level without a 3-4-5," he said. "We'll need some people to step up at the conference meet if we're going to achieve our goals. I'm confident in where we've come on our training."
In addition to a solid performance by the men's top runners, freshmen Pedro Bravo and Niall Ryan both competed in their first ever collegiate race posting times of 25:46.3 and 26:03.0 respectively. The two hope to grow as runners as they continue to race on the collegiate circuit.
On the women's side, Madeline Rehm is coming off her career-best time, 17:36.0, which placed her 11th in the 5k. But she, in addition to her five other teammates who finished in the top 20 including senior Anna Campbell and junior Meredith Helton, look to build off their strong individual performances as this young team gains more experience. Coach Ashley Bastron has a lot of confidence in this young team as she looks toward her three freshmen runners Alli Boehm, Hana Catsimanes and Elise Smoot. Participating in their first collegiate meet, all three finished in the top 30 with times of 18:14.5, 18:34.6 and 18:59.3, respectively.
While the teams prepare for this meet, they also look ahead to the ACC Championship on Oct. 30, in hopes of the men and women topping their fifth and sixth-place finishes from last season. That meet will be the first time either team has ran against more than two other programs this season, making for a realistic and exciting atmosphere.
"We're super excited about the ACCs. I feel like our team has handled the gap in training from March until we returned in August with maturity. They didn't panic, they came in pretty fit," Hayes added. "I think we can do quite well at ACCs. It's a quick season, but we're happy to have it. It was so awesome to be out there on that course in Charlottesville when two months ago we thought there was a high probability that wouldn't occur. What all the schools in the ACC have done and with the administrators giving us a chance to compete, I'm excited to match up against the 14 ACC teams and see what we can do."
Players Mentioned
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
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