The Wolfpacker

76 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY BRUCE WINKWORTH T his was the year that fifth-year se- nior cross country and track stand- out Andrew Colley finally stepped out from the shadows. Well, make that shadow, singular, as in the lengthy shadow cast by former NC State track lu- minary Ryan Hill. Colley's excellence the last three years largely went unnoticed when Hill won every race and honor available, grabbing nearly every headline in sight. And rightly so. And while a less secure athlete might have chafed at the lack of attention, Colley rolled with it and used it to his advantage. "It motivated me," Colley said of being overshadowed by Hill. "I think he'd like to hear that, too, because every time he runs well it makes me want to run better. Being around good runners is what makes you get better. Having him to train with all those years — I miss him now because I don't get to train with him anymore — it only made me that much better. It's nice to have that around because I always had something to aim at." This year, with Hill out of the picture and running professionally for the Oregon Track Club Elite group, Colley has been the one casting the long shadow on the NC State track program. To casual observ- ers, it might appear that he came out of nowhere to become NC State's latest long- distance running star. To those close to the Wolfpack program, however, Colley was always a star in his own right. "We won the conference championship in 2011 in cross country," Wolfpack head coach Rollie Geiger said. "Andrew hadn't lined up that entire year until that particular race. We got close to the finish and they kind of came over a hill to the finish line. Ryan was ahead, but Andrew was not far back and finished second. He's just that good. There was no question about Ryan's accomplishments, but Andrew has always been right there." Hill may have made Colley better, but with Hill gone and out of the picture this year, Colley still managed to carve him- self a pretty extraordinary senior season in cross country and track, with one chapter left to write. It began with cross country back in the fall. After finishing second and third in 2011 and 2012, respectively, he won the ACC cross country individual men's championship by nearly 30 seconds. He followed that up by earning All-Amer- ica honors for the third time in as many years with a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships, his best-ever finish at cross country nationals. In addition to his athletic achievements, Colley continued a longstanding NC State Adding Up To A Great Year Fifth-Year Senior Andrew Colley Has Raced To The Top This school year, Colley has won the ACC cross country individual men's championship, been named the NCAA Division I Men's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year and run a sub-four- minute mile. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS 76,78.Andrew Colley.indd 76 4/29/14 11:57 AM

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