RALEIGH, N.C.-Senior captain Bob Thiele ran to an extraordinary second-place finish at the ACC cross country championships Saturday on N.C. State's University Club course, carrying the Cavalier men to third in the conference.
On the women's side, junior Sarah Folse led Virginia with a strong sixth-place finish as the Cavs took fifth.
The men's eight-kilometer race was filled with drama as lesser runners tried to steal the race at the beginning. Clemson's Travis Alexander jumped out to a gigantic 60-meter lead in the first kilometer, then relinquished the lead to N.C. State's Devin Swann. Swann was passed by a pair of Duke runners around the 5K mark, with Thiele and Cavalier sophomores Justin Wood and Matt Ruhl not far behind.
|
The race's finish was equally thrilling. Thiele made a valiant charge to close on Duke's Sean Kelly in the final stretch, but Kelly took first in 25 minutes. Thiele crossed the line just two seconds later at 25:02. Wood and Ruhl finished seventh and eighth respectively, with times of 25:21 and 25:23.
The Blue Devils won the team championship with 39 points. N.C. State, led by Ryan Wood's fifth-place finish, took second with 49 points, and Virginia finished a close third with 54. The last time the Cavaliers finished third or higher was 1990.
"We did what we wanted to do, which was place three guys in the top 10 and two more in the top 25," Thiele said. "We needed a scalp, which is where you beat a ranked team, and we didn't get it. As far as place-wise, individuals, we thought that'd be enough to get us into second and we're really disappointed."
The women's 5K race was less turbulent, with the strong runners setting the pace from the start. Carolina's Shalane Flanagan, Wake Forest's Sara Day, and Duke's Sheela Agrawal were 1-2-3 from the first kilometer up to the finish. Flanagan, a freshman, extended her lead to win with a time of 17:38, and Day and Agrawal ran in 18:03 and 18:15, respectively.
Folse led Virginia with an impressive time of 18:36. Senior Dana Coons was even with Folse for the first four kilometers, but suffered from possible heat exhaustion during the last large uphill stretch and finished in 20th place at 19:12. Sophomore Dawn Cleary ran her best race of the year and finished 18th with a time of 19:11.
Team-wise, N.C. State and UNC dominated the competition on the women's side. The Wolfpack won with 43 points, and the Heels took second with 52. Wake Forest got third with 92, Duke had 106 points for fourth and Virginia finished fifth with 107.
Virginia coaches expressed optimism that both teams, especially the men, could qualify for the NCAA National Championships.
"N.C. State was third in nationals last year, and Duke ran seventh in pre-nationals this year, so frankly, those teams are, on paper, a lot better than we are," Dunn said. "To be within five points of NC State, I feel like it's a tremendous run"
Read More
Live tracker: the men’s basketball offseason
By Michael Liebermann , Emory Huffman and Xander Tilock | 39 minutes agoA frenetic offseason likely awaits.
Virginia is getting ‘better and better,’ and it was all on display against Syracuse
By Michael Liebermann | 4 hours agoVirginia did almost everything right in its best performance of the season.
For Virginia softball, challenging No. 8 Florida State series comes at critical time
By Emory Huffman | 10 hours agoFlorida State is both a major challenge and an opportunity.
