The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 ■ 23 formance from March when it passed NC State in the final kilometer. "Pretty soon after I finished, Kelsey was yelling, 'That's five!'" Bush remembered. "When you have five finish that quickly, you are like, 'Okay, yeah, we just won.'" The official word did not take long to come down. Bush described it as an instant celebration. That news made everyone for- get about the pain of running a 6K in less than 20 minutes. "I feel like we all just kind of snapped out of it," Hays added. Cheering the team on were some fel- low student-athletes. The women's soccer team happened to be in Tallahassee for the NCAA Tournament, and they were course- side during the race, helping give the Pack perhaps the largest contingent of fans among the schools there. The post-race aftermath was a bit chaotic, Tuohy noted. First were interviews with the ESPNU broadcast team, where for the first time they got to hold what Hays said was a "pretty heavy" national title trophy. Then was the awards ceremony, when a cannon shot of confetti seemed to catch the team members by surprise. After a little time to settle down with family members at the team hotel, they boarded a flight home to Raleigh and went straight to the Bell Tower, lit red for the first time to celebrate an NCAA team title. "Right after the race, I think we all just had so much adrenaline that we're just run- ning around, celebrating," Chmiel said. "I don't think it was until a few days later, where we had some time with just the team and saw some of the pictures, and all that slows down a bit, where it just starts to sink in a little bit more." Reflecting Back On History Henes had a clear message for her team before the race. "It's a little bit easier going into it saying, 'No one has to do anything heroic. Nobody has to do anything they haven't done be- fore,'" Henes noted. A group of NC State fans packed Sam- my's Bar and Grill on Avent Ferry Road in Raleigh to watch the race. A brief clip of the trophy being handed first to Steelman generated thousands of views on The Wolf- packer's Twitter account. By performing like they had all year, NC State women's cross country returned to campus as champions. With time to reflect, the team gained more perspective on its accomplishment. "We're the first team outside of men's basketball at NC State to win an NCAA title," Steelman noted. "That is pretty cool. That's history. I think just the fact that is going to be something that people remem- ber for so long, that's really cool to think about." "We were ranked No. 1 for quite a few weeks there, and I think the satisfaction you get from doing something bigger than yourself as a team and having it work out and accomplishing your goal, it's kind of hard to put into words how good that feels to do together," Tuohy said. "Going to that practice that Monday af- terwards, everyone was kind of like, 'This feels strange,'" Hays recalled. "We've been coming to practice every single day, think- ing about this one goal in mind, and now we're back and we did it. That's crazy." "I think the best part about it has been just knowing that the hard work paid off for all of us," Chmiel added. "The most impressive thing about this team isn't that we won a national championship, it's that we did it the right way. We really worked together and worked really hard." "It's just so crazy because we spent months working for it," Bush stated. "And then it just happened within like an hour." Just like that, the NC State women's cross country team made history. It's been almost 40 years since the school celebrated an NCAA team title. A banner was placed across the main entrance of Paul Derr Track to celebrate the occasion. Since the famous 1983 Cardiac Pack led by Jim Valvano created a March Madness moment never to be forgotten, the state of North Carolina passed a law creating a highway sign at certain points in the state celebrating national titles. For the first time, Wolfpack fans driv- ing past the airport on I-40 headed to PNC Arena or Carter-Finley Stadium, among other locations, will be able to see the words "North Carolina State 2021 Women's Cross Country NCAA Champions" written on it. That will be a reminder, until the next in-state team captures a national title, of the history made by one of NC State's most storied programs on Nov. 20, 2021, in Tal- lahassee, Fla. ■ All-Americans On All-Americans Katelyn Tuohy on Hannah Steelman: "If I could choose one word to describe Hannah, I'd say cool. Very cool in all aspects of life. Han- nah's a very well-rounded individual. She's smart, funny, athletic and a great person." Kelsey Chmiel on Katelyn Tuohy: "Katelyn is the best. That's the only way to put it." Hannah Steelman on Allie Hays: "Allie is a boss, I would say, in many ways. She is some - one that you can easily look up to because she just has this leadership thing about her life. I admire the way she came on this team and was just an instant leader and became friends with everybody. An instant perfect addition to this team. She's a team player and just a queen." Sam Bush on Kelsey Chmiel: "We all call her the G.O.A.T. because she is the greatest of all time. I would say that the biggest thing is that she's humble and a very team-oriented person, which is obviously a really good attribute." Allie Hays on Sam Bush: "I think she's really gritty. She's a really hard worker. She's always going to get it done. She'll just always show up when she needs to show up, like exactly how she was describing the race. Someone said, '44th,' and she was like, 'Nope, I will be an All- American.' And then she dropped 12 spots." — Matt Carter Sophomore Katelyn Tuohy, who finished in 15th place, was one of five All-Americans for the Wolfpack. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS