As reigning conference champions, the Wake Forest men’s cross country team held high expectations for themselves at Friday’s ACC Championship meet. Unfortunately, they were not met.
The No. 20 Wake Forest men’s cross country team left Tallahassee, Fla., in sixth place after scoring 131 points. UNC secured the men’s title with 49 team points.
“I never want to be sixth in the ACC,” Head Coach John Hayes said. “I want to win. I came here to win. That’s what we intend to do. I think we’re establishing our program as one of the better ones in the country, so to finish sixth in the ACC doesn’t feel great.”
Redshirt junior Luke Tewalt — the only remaining scorer from the 2022 men’s team — was the fastest Demon Deacon, finishing the 8km race in 12th place (23:31.9). Sophomore Joe O’Brien finished in 17th (23:40.3), while freshmen Charlie Sprott (23rd, 23:53.7), Hunter Jones (33rd, 24:02.3) and Aidan Ross (46th, 24:13.5) rounded out the rest of Wake Forest’s scorers.
The Demon Deacons were projected to finish fifth in the conference back in August, but even that turned out to be a tall task. Wake Forest lost four of their top five runners from the 2022 season to professional running or as graduate transfers, leaving Tewalt in charge of the team. Even with the heavy roster turnover, there was still a bit of pressure for Wake Forest to compete during the ACC championship.
“We don’t run to place,” Tewalt said. “We run to win. That was the thing we were talking about since our first meeting in June — the expectations have been set, and we don’t expect anything but the best from ourselves.”
Wake Forest was also without two-time ACC freshman of the week Rocky Hansen, who, according to Hayes, realized he wouldn’t be able to race “about five minutes before the gun went off.” The last time Hansen raced was two weeks prior, when he finished in sixth place at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wis.
“Obviously, not having Rocky in there really hurt us,” Hayes said. “You’re talking about one of the best runners in the NCAA and ACC who legitimately had a shot to win today, so not having him hurt us pretty [badly].”
In Hansen’s absence, Sprott was the fastest first-year in the 144-runner field and was named the conference’s freshman of the year. Both Hayes and Tewalt were encouraged by the team’s depth amongst the young runners, calling their group of freshmen one of the best in the ACC.
All five scoring runners had their best races of the season, with improvements ranging from 10 seconds to a minute and a half. Tewalt called Friday’s race his best of the season but knows he has more left in the tank.
“We didn’t have bad days — we all had very good days,” Tewalt said. “It’s just we know we’re capable of more. And that’s on a team level and individually, as well. I’m just really glad that I found my form again when it mattered.”
Hayes is confident that his team can build upon their improvements and capitalize during the 10km NCAA Southeast Regional race at the University of South Carolina Upstate on Saturday, Nov. 10.
“As long as they don’t lose a sense of how great they can really be, we’re going to be fine,” Hayes said. “The look in these guys’ eyes — they want to be great. They’ve worked very hard. It’s a tremendous group of young men, and I have zero doubt that they’re going to be prepared in two weeks to go out and do what’s necessary to get to the national championship.”
