The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024 ■ 43 BY MATT HERB p s y c h o l o g y m a j o r a t NC State and an aspiring therapist, junior distance runner Grace Hartman has a deep appreciation for the power that the mind has over the body. Hartman herself is the personification of that idea. Throughout her athletic ca- reer, the Oakwood, Ohio, native has relied on her considerable willpower to over- come obstacles and develop into a high- level performer. "I grew up in the Midwest, and the cross country courses out there are no joke," Hartman said. "I come from a small high school where we didn't have a lot of resources like a lot of bigger schools do. Growing up, I always had to find a way to get things done that wasn't necessarily the most conventional way. "I think that's a benefit for me. I like to find a way to do things. I will never give up on something." Hartman's sense of determination is evident in all aspects of her life at NC State. She was a part of the Wolfpack's third consecutive national cross country title last season, covering the six-kilo- meter course at the NCAA Championship in 20:24.4 to place 63rd overall and fifth among NC State runners. She's also a decorated student, having won the ACC Women's Outdoor Track Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year award this past spring while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. During the 2023 season, her first cross country campaign at NC State, Hartman played a complementary role, watching and learning from team leaders Katelyn Tuohy, Kelsey Chmiel, Sam Bush and Amaris Tyynismaa. That foursome is now gone, and Hartman has been thrust into a much more prominent position. As usual, she's eager for the challenge. "It's been super valuable watching ath- letes like Kelsey, Katelyn, Sam and Amaris take a leadership position," she said. "The younger athletes like myself were able to just follow what they were doing. We re- ally tried to mimic what they were doing last year and learn what's right and what's wrong." 'LOOKING FOR MORE' Hartman's path to cross country promi- nence was not a straight line. Tennis had been her first love growing up. She played for about 10 years and thought she might want to continue playing competitively in college. That plan began changing when she tried cross country in the eighth grade. She mostly saw it as a recreational sport at the time, but she returned the next year with a more serious mindset and "just kind of took to it." By the time she was an upperclassman at Oakwood High, she was one of the best cross country runners in her home state. Hartman won back-to-back Ohio Di- vision II championships, capturing the second of those titles by more than 30 seconds. She wasn't sure at first whether she was capable of parlaying her high school suc- cess into a career at an elite college, but that was before NC State coach Laurie Henes contacted her to gauge her interest in coming to Raleigh. "I remember actually screaming," Hartman recalled. "I never thought that a school like NC State would reach out." It did reach out, and it wasn't alone. Hartman received her share of enticing offers, a few of which she gave serious consideration. NC State, though, was coming off a second-place finish at na- tionals during the COVID-delayed 2020 season, and it won the championship in the fall of 2021. If Henes wanted her, Hartman was coming. Her first year on campus, she didn't compete in cross country, instead mak- ing her collegiate debut during the indoor track season. The 2023 campaign marked her return to the sport, and it ended on a euphoric note. Hartman wasn't entirely satisfied with her personal performance at the NCAA meet in November, but cross country is ultimately a team sport, and the Pack's first-place finish negated any disappoint- ment its runners might have felt about their individual showings. "That's the crazy thing about cross country, and it's so beautiful," Hartman said. "None of us had our best day, but we were still able to come together as a col- lective group. I wouldn't say I was thrilled about my race individually, but it was the collective thing that we were able to do. I'll never look back on that and be sad about how I raced. I'm definitely looking for more this year." THE POWER OF BELIEF With last year's top three finishers at the NCAA Championships all gone, NC State is going to need more of that this year from Hartman. Losing elite performers is part of the cyclical nature of college sports, of course, and it helps explain why only one program in NCAA history has ever won more than three consecutive national championships in women's cross country. That program is Villanova, which claimed six titles from 1989-94. Since then, only two teams have even won three in a row — Stanford from 2005-07 and now NC State. Citing the return of Hartman, junior Hannah Gapes and sophomore Leah Ste- phens, as well as the arrival of a strong freshman class, FloTrack recently con- tended that NC State "remains the team to beat for another year." Northern Arizona will likely have something to say about that after falling to the Wolfpack by a single point last year, while Oregon, Providence and Florida were also cited by FloTrack as potential titlists. Still, Hartman sees no reason why the Pack can't will themselves to another championship. "Our goal is always to win," she said. "We've got a lot of new freshmen coming in, and returners who have developed re- ally well over the last year. I think people don't realize that. "We have a lot of trust in one another," she added. "I just trust how Coach is go- ing to manage us. She always has a great plan. We've all been able to improve in- dividually by helping one another, and I think we can win it again. Most people wouldn't say that, but you've got to have that belief." ■ A 2024 Cross Country Schedule Date Event Time Aug. 30 Scrimmage* TBA Sept. 20 Adidas XC Challenge** TBA Oct. 4 Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invite^ TBA Oct. 4 at ECU Pirate Invitational^^ TBA Oct. 18 at Elon University TBA Oct. 19 Pre-NCAAs # TBA Nov. 1 ACC Championships** TBA Nov. 15 NCAA Southeast Regionals ## TBA Nov. 23 NCAA Championships # TBA * at Asheville, N.C.; ** at Cary, N.C.; ^ at Chicago; ^^ at Greenville, N.C.; # at Madison, Wis.; ## at Fort Mill, S.C.