Saturday, November 19
Stillwater, Okla.
Wake Forest University
vs
NCAA Championship
Demon Deacons Place Fifth at NCAA Championships to Conclude 2022 Campaign
11/19/2022 3:37:00 PM | Cross Country
Wake Forest earned its highest championship finish since 1989. Zach Facioni, Luke Tewalt and Aaron Las Heras earned All-American honors.
STILLWATER, Okla. — The 12th-ranked Wake Forest men's cross country team placed fifth at the 2022 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships Saturday, marking the highest finish for the program since 1989.
The Demon Deacons were paced by Zach Facioni (20), Luke Tewalt (22) and Aaron Las Heras (26) as the dynamic trio earned All-American honors. With Saturday's nod, Facioni became the first three-time All-American in program history.
Tewalt and Las Heras became only the sixth and seventh Demon Deacons to earn All-American accolades. Additionally, Saturday marked the first time Wake Forest has had multiple All-Americans (Facioni, Tewalt and Las Heras) in the same season.
On Nov. 12, Wake Forest was selected to the NCAA DI Cross Country Championships for the third-consecutive season and for the 12th time in program history.
This season, the Demon Deacons won the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) team title for the first time since 1994 and recorded its third consecutive top-three finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional.
Of note, the Deacs finished no lower than sixth in any meet during the 2022 campaign, including postseason action.
Saturday, like most of the season, Wake Forest came out conservative over the first 1,000 meters before making its move into fourth at the 2k mark.
Over the ensuing 8,000 meters, the Demon Deacons maintained their position, slipping no lower than fifth at any split during the race.
Wake Forest was one of only three teams, joining eventual National Champion Northern Arizona and runner-up Oklahoma State, to have its top-three spread place in the top-26.
Saturday's fifth place result marked the best finish under director of track & field and cross country John Hayes and only the fourth top-10 finish in program history.
Quotables
"We've gone through a lot of illness on our team in the last two weeks, so honestly, I came into this morning just thinking if we get top-10, that's an amazing effort. These guys are absolutely amazing. They fought through adversity. They ran as a team today. They're absolutely incredible. All seven guys really ran strong races and I couldn't be more proud of these young men." - director of track & field and cross country John Hayes
Season Highlights
The Demon Deacons were paced by Zach Facioni (20), Luke Tewalt (22) and Aaron Las Heras (26) as the dynamic trio earned All-American honors. With Saturday's nod, Facioni became the first three-time All-American in program history.
Tewalt and Las Heras became only the sixth and seventh Demon Deacons to earn All-American accolades. Additionally, Saturday marked the first time Wake Forest has had multiple All-Americans (Facioni, Tewalt and Las Heras) in the same season.
On Nov. 12, Wake Forest was selected to the NCAA DI Cross Country Championships for the third-consecutive season and for the 12th time in program history.
This season, the Demon Deacons won the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) team title for the first time since 1994 and recorded its third consecutive top-three finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional.
Of note, the Deacs finished no lower than sixth in any meet during the 2022 campaign, including postseason action.
Saturday, like most of the season, Wake Forest came out conservative over the first 1,000 meters before making its move into fourth at the 2k mark.
Over the ensuing 8,000 meters, the Demon Deacons maintained their position, slipping no lower than fifth at any split during the race.
Wake Forest was one of only three teams, joining eventual National Champion Northern Arizona and runner-up Oklahoma State, to have its top-three spread place in the top-26.
Saturday's fifth place result marked the best finish under director of track & field and cross country John Hayes and only the fourth top-10 finish in program history.
Quotables
"We've gone through a lot of illness on our team in the last two weeks, so honestly, I came into this morning just thinking if we get top-10, that's an amazing effort. These guys are absolutely amazing. They fought through adversity. They ran as a team today. They're absolutely incredible. All seven guys really ran strong races and I couldn't be more proud of these young men." - director of track & field and cross country John Hayes
Season Highlights
- The Wake Forest men's cross country team placed fifth at the NCAA Championships, marking the program's highest championship finish since 1989.
- Zach Facioni became the first and only three-time All-American in program history.
- Luke Tewalt and Aaron Las Heras also earned All-American honors.
- The Demon Deacons won the ACC Cross Country Championship this season for the first time since 1994.
- This year's title marked the fifth in program history.
- Wake Forest had its best performance of the 2022 campaign as the Deacs finished 42 points ahead of second-place Syracuse to secure the league title.
- This year's title marked the fifth in program history.
- At the ACC Championships, Aaron Las Heras (third), Luke Tewalt (fourth), Thomas Vanoppen (fifth) and Zach Facioni (eighth) all garnered All-ACC honors and finished in the top eight.
- Of note, the Deacs' entire top-five spread finished in the top-25 as Joaquin Martinez de Pinillos placed 24th.
- Despite coasting to a third place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional, the Demon Deacons still had four runners earn All-Region honors (Tewalt, Facioni, Las Heras and Vanoppen).
- This season, the Deacs have finished no lower than sixth in any meet.
- The only meet in which the Demon Deacons finished outside the top three in the regular season was the Cowboy Jamboree on Sept. 24.
- The Cowboy Jamboree featured eight of the top-10 teams nationally.
- Additionally, the Cowboy Jamboree marked the first meet of the season for each of Wake Forest's seven competitors.
- The only meet in which the Demon Deacons finished outside the top three in the regular season was the Cowboy Jamboree on Sept. 24.
- In addition to winning the ACC Championship, the Demon Deacons placed first at the Panorama Farms XC 23 Invitational.
- Despite missing Las Heras, three Deacs finished in the top-10 in the men's 8k.
- Wake Forest was paced by two-time All-American Facioni, who finished second overall (23:11.5). Vanoppen (23:18.4) and Tewalt (23:24.7) joined Facioni in the top-10 placing fourth and ninth, respectively.
- Martinez De Pinillos (23:32.4) and Ben Mitchell (23:46.6) also had solid performances as they finished 11th and 22nd, respectively.
- The Demon Deacons had a solid showing at the Adidas XC Challenge on Sept. 16 as Rynard Swanepoel, Joe Pearl and Andrew Kivett all turned in top-30 finishes in the men's 6k.
- Wake Forest was paced by Swanepoel who finished 11th, running 18:18.1. Pearl (18:40.1) and Kivett (18:48.8) joined Swanepoel in the top-30 as they finished 24th and 27th, respectively.
Players Mentioned
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