20 ■ THE WOLFPACKER
BY MATT CARTER
hen NC State's top-
ranked women's cross
country team stepped to
the starting line of the
six-kilometer NCAA
Championship meet
Nov. 20 in Tallahassee,
Fla., it was a reminder.
A reminder for why senior Hannah
Steelman decided to use her extra year of
eligibility granted to all fall sports com-
petitors last year by the NCAA. A reminder
why Allie Hays decided that she was going
to transfer from Columbia to NC State for
her last year of cross country.
Ever since the Wolfpack finished in sec-
ond place at the NCAA Championships last
March in Stillwater, Okla., a race in which
NC State had the team lead at the 5K mark
only to have BYU pull ahead in the final
kilometer, this group of runners had been
on a mission to win it all.
Now the race was back on its regular fall
date, and the Pack was primed for the big
moment.
"We definitely knew that the national
championship was realistic for us, goal-
wise," Steelman noted. "This year, we
weren't really scared to talk about it. It was
RUN FOR HISTORY
NC State Women's Cross Country Captures The First
NCAA Team Title For Wolfpack Athletics Since 1983
W
