John Hayes Announces 2024 Cross Country Slate

8/12/2024 1:55:00 PM | Cross Country

The 10-event schedule will feature five tests in the state of North Carolina.

By: Dylan Shackelford

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Coming off of his fourth-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Cross Country Championships, 2022 ACC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year John Hayes officially unveiled the 2024 slate for the Wake Forest men's and women's cross country programs Monday afternoon.

2024 Slate
The Demon Deacons will open the 2024 campaign, hosting UNC Greensboro on Aug. 30. Two weeks later, the Wake Forest women will travel to Boone, N.C. for the Firetower Project.

On Sept. 20, the squad will head to Cary, N.C. for the Adidas Cross Country Challenge a week before taking part in the Nuttycombe invitational in Madison, Wisc., the first of three potential trips to Madison for the Demon Deacons.

In October, Wake Forest will compete in the Queens XC challenge on the 11th before splitting up for the Panorama Farms Invitational in Charlottesville (men) and the Pre-NCAA meet (women) in Madison on the 19th.

The 2024 ACC Cross Country Championships will take place Nov. 1 in Cary, N.C. and the NCAA Southeast Regional will be on Nov. 15 in Rock Hill, S.C.

The 2024 NCAA Cross Country Championships will be held in Madison on Nov. 23.

The Hayes Era
Since arriving at Wake Forest in 2016, Hayes has returned the men's cross country program to prominence. Under Hayes, the Demon Deacons improved their finish at the ACC Championships from 14th in 2015, to winning the league title in 2022 and from 23rd at the Southeast Regional in 2015, to winning the Southeast Region in 2021.

Last season, the men's squad reached the NCAA Championships for the fourth-straight season, marking the longest streak in program history. Luke Tewalt and Joe O'Brien both garnered All-ACC honors, as well as All-Region honors during the 2023 season. Charlie Sprott was named ACC Freshman of the Year, after a stellar performance at the ACC Championships as he clocked 23:53.7 to place 23rd overall.

In 2022, Hayes coached three All-Americans including Zach Facioni, the first three-time All-American in program history. Hayes also coached four All-ACC runners, which tied the program record for the most all-conference selections in a single season.

Prior to Hayes' arrival, Wake Forest had gone over a decade without making an NCAA Championship appearance. Of note, the Demon Deacons have now made an appearance at the NCAA Championships in four-consecutive seasons under Hayes' direction.

Over his 20-plus year coaching career, Hayes has led his teams to 13 NCAA Division I cross country championship appearances.

Last Season's Highlights

Men's Cross Country
- Wake Forest reached the NCAA Championships for the fourth-straight season, marking the longest streak in program history.
  - This year marked the program's 13th all-time appearance.
- Luke Tewalt and Joe O'Brien both garnered All-ACC honors, as well as All-Region honors during the 2023 season.
  - Tewalt finished fifth individually at the NCAA Southeast Regional.
- Charlie Sprott was named ACC Freshman of the Year, after a stellar performance at the ACC Championships.
  - Sprott clocked 23:53.7 to place 23rd overall.
- Rocky Hansen was tabbed ACC Performer of the Week, becoming the first true freshman to garner the accolade since 2018.
  - Hansen was also tabbed Freshman of the Week on two occasions.
    - In his two races this season, Hansen placed fifth and sixth individually.
- Paul Specht was named ACC Performer of the Week for the first time in his career during the 2023 slate.
- The Demon Deacons recorded their fourth-consecutive, top-four team finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional.
- The Deacs won the Hokie Open (Nov. 3) and finished third at the Royals XC Challenge (Oct. 6).
Women's Cross Country
- The Demon Deacons placed fourth at the NCAA Southeast Regional after entering the event ranked sixth in the region.
  - Wilson (10th), along with graduate students Caroline Garrett (20th) and Lydia van Dijk (24th) all placed in the top-25 for the women, securing All-Region accolades.
- They finished eighth as a team at the ACC Championships.
  - Wake Forest was one of only four teams to have their top three finishers place in the top 30 individually.
  - Brooke Wilson earned All-ACC honors with an 18th place finish, becoming the first Demon Deacon to do so since 2019.
- The Deacs were led by Wilson as she recorded a pair of top-10 finishes to open her collegiate career, before finishing 20th in a stacked field at the XC23 College & Open Pre-Nationals.
- Emma Douglass was named ACC Performer of the Week after her first race of the 2023 campaign, where she clocked an impressive 18:04.14 in the 5k, en route to an eighth-place individual finish at the Royals XC Challenge.

Program History/Accolades (Men)

NCAA Championship Appearances
- Team
  - 1988 (14th), 1989 (3rd), 1990 (18th), 1992 (9th), 1993 (20th), 1995 (20th), 1996 (11th), 2000 (18th), 2001 (19th), 2021 Spring (15th), 2021 Fall (10th), 2022 (5th), 2023 (24th)
ACC Champions
- Individual
  - Nolan Swanson (1996) and Nathan Sisco (2001)
- Team
  - 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 2022
All-America
- John Hume (1989), Ben Schoonover (1989), Jon Russell (1996), Nolan Swanson (1997), Zach Facioni (2020, 2021, 2022), Aaron Las Heras (2022), Luke Tewalt (2022)
All-ACC
- Ron Rick (1985), Bill Babcock (1988, 1989), Scott Hayward (1988) Jon Hume (1988, 1989), Ben Schoonover (1989, 1990), John Sence (1989, 1990, 1991), Kyle Armentrout (1990, 1993), Eric Lorenz (1991), Stuart Burnham (1992, 1993), Brant Armentrout (1992, 1993), Pat Phillips (1992, 1993), Dennis Hearst (1993), Craig Longhurst (1994), Eric Dunn (1994, 1996), Ben Boyd (1994, 1996), Paul Kinser (1995), Jon Russell (1995, 1996), Nolan Swanson (1995, 1996, 1997), Stephan Pro (1998) Ted DeVos (2000) Chris Estwanik (2001) Garick Hill (2001), Nathan Sisco (2001), Sean Stevens (2003, 2005), Mitchell Day (2017), Zach Facioni (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022), Jack Tiernan (2019), Carter Coughlin (2020), Jonathan Velasco (2020), Ben Mitchell (2020), Coen Roberts (2020), Aaron Las Heras (2021, 2022), Luke Tewalt (2022, 2023), Thomas Vanoppen (2022), Joe O'Brien (2023)

Program History/Accolades (Women)

NCAA Championship Appearances
- Team
  - 1987 (10th), 1992 (19th), 1994 (12th), 1997 (17th), 1998 (15th), 2000 (29th), 2002 (9th), 2003 (21st), 2004 (19th), 2005 (17th), 2006 (27th)
ACC Champions
- Individual
  - Seana Arnold (1989) and Janelle Kraus (1997, 1998)
- Team
  - 2002 (Co-Champions)
All-America
- Karen Dunn (1985), Jennifer Rioux (1987), Seana Arnold (1989), Nicole Stevenson (1993), Janelle Kraus (1997, 1998, 1999), Annie Bersagel (2002, 2003, 2005), Selina Sekulic (2004), Michelle Sikes (2006), Samantha Jones (2015)
All-ACC
- Karen Dunn (1985, 1986), Jennifer Rioux (1985, 1986, 1987), Sue Vander Wagen (1986, 1987), Monica Magnusson (1987), Anne Letko (1988), Seana Arnold (1989), Liz Becker (1989), Mary Powell (1989, 1990), Jennifer Finnegan (1992, 1994), Cynthia Moreshead (1992, 1995), Nicole Stevenson (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995), Liz Cotter (1996), Janelle Kraus (1997, 1998), Kelly Brady (1997), Sara Day (2000), Annie Bersagel (2002, 2005), Risa Rutland (2002), Anna Sherman (2003), Michelle Sikes (2003, 2004, 2006), Selina Sekulic (2004), Allison Kieffer (2008), Anna Nosenko (2010), Nicole Irving (2011, 2012), Samantha Jones (2014, 2015), Sam Halvorsen (2017, 2018, 2019), Elise Wright (2019), Brooke Wilson (2023)

2024 Cross Country Schedule

Date	Event	Location
Aug. 30	Wake Forest vs UNCG	Winston-Salem, N.C.
Sept. 13	The Firetower Project	Boone, N.C.
Sept. 20	Adidas Cross Country Challenge	Cary, N.C.
Sept. 27	Nuttycombe Invitational	Madison, Wisc.
Oct. 11	Royals XC Challenge	Charlotte, N.C.
Oct. 19	Panorama Farms Invitational	Charlottesville, Va.
Oct. 19	Pre-NCAA	Madison, Wisc.
Nov. 1	ACC XC Championships	Cary, N.C.
Nov. 15	Southeast Region XC Championships	Rock Hill, S.C.
Nov. 23	NCAA XC Championships	Madison, Wisc.