Cross Country October 23, 2020

ACC Cross Country Championships Set Friday

ACC Weekly Release: https://theacc.co/accXC2020

ACC Championship Page: http://theacc.co/XCchamps

• The Atlantic Coast Conference is slated to kick off the 2020 Fall Championship schedule on Friday, Oct. 30, with the ACC Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships in Cary, North Carolina. The men’s 8K final opens the competition at 10 a.m. at the WakeMed Soccer Park Course, followed by the women’s 6K championship at 11 a.m. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, no spectators will be admitted. The action will be carried live via ACC Network Extra, and live results will be available on theACC.com.

• In addition to ACCNX’s live coverage of the Championship races, ACC Network will air a recap show at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9.

• This will mark the third time the WakeMed Soccer Park course has played host to the ACC Cross Country Championships. The event was first held there in 2009, with the NC State men and Florida State women claiming team titles. The Syracuse men and NC State women emerged as team winners when the Championships returned to WakeMed in 2016.

• The Syracuse men and NC State women also enter this year’s event as reigning ACC champions. The Syracuse men, under head coach Brien Bell, captured the program's sixth title in seven seasons as ACC members in last year’s Championship at Virginia Tech. Coach Laurie Henes’ NC State women will be going after their fifth straight ACC crown.

• ACC runners were recognized as USTFCCCA NCAA Division I National Athletes of the Week four times during the fall season. Virginia senior Rohann Asfaw was recognized as Men’s Runner of the Week twice, on Sept. 29 and Oct. 13. North Carolina freshman Sasha Neglia was honored as Women’s National Runner of the Week on Sept. 29, followed by NC State senior Dominique Clairmonte on Oct. 13.

• The USTFCCCA released its first National Divison I Coaches Polls of the cross country season on Tuesday. No. 4 NC State leads five ranked ACC teams among the women’s top 30, followed by No. 12 Notre Dame, No. 21 Florida State, No. 25 Georgia Tech and No. 27 North Carolina. Notre Dame is the highest ranked ACC men’s team at No. 6, followed by No. 16 Virginia, No. 17 Syracuse and No. 21 NC State. The ACC’s four ranked men’s teams tie for most among all conferences, and the ACC’s five ranked women’s teams tie for second most.

• The top 21 men’s and women’s finishers at the ACC Championships will earn All-ACC recognition. The first true freshman to cross the finish line in the men’s and women’s races will be recognized as ACC Freshmen of the Year. ACC Runners of the Year and Coaches of the Year will be determined by a vote of the league’s head coaches following completion of the NCAA Championships, which are currently scheduled for next March.

• Other men’s runners to watch at the ACC Championship include Notre Dame All-American Yared Nuguse, who took the bronze medal in 2018 and was last year’s runner-up ... Syracuse’s JP Trojan led the field at two men’s races during the current fall season, and Florida State’s Paul Stafford was twice named the ACC Men’s Performer of the Week. NC State’s Joe Bistritz and Wake Forest’s Jack Tiernan also have first-place finishes to their credit this fall.

• On the women’s side, Syracuse’s Amanda Vestri placed first in both of her fall races, and seven other runners earned at least one gold medal ... Performers of note included NC State’s Hannah Steelman, whose winning 6K time of 20:36.2 at the Virginia Tech Invite was a shade faster than the winning time posted by former Wolfpack All-American Elly Henes on the same course at the 2019 ACC Championships ... The winning time of 16:53 by Duke’s Amanda Beach at the Virginia/Panorama Farms Invite was the fastest 5K mark by an ACC runner this season.

• NC State leads all schools with a total of 41 ACC cross country championships – 16 men’s and 25 women’s. Hall of Fame coach Rollie Geiger owns 34 titles (15 men’s, 19 women’s) to rank as the all-time leader ... Laurie Henes has coached the Wolfpack to five women's championships, including the last four in succession.

• North Carolina ranks second among ACC men’s programs with nine team titles. Florida State’s women claimed team championships seven straight seasons (2007 through 2013).

• The Division I men’s and women’s championships are scheduled for March 15. However, there is some concern in the membership about conducting cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field in the spring term. The Division I Competition Oversight Committee will continue to evaluate the issue. Regular-season competition could be conducted Jan. 30-March 5, with championships selections on March 6.

Unity Week Set Oct. 24-31
• The ACC will hold its first Unity Week, Oct. 24-31, 2020. ACC Unity Week was developed through the efforts of the ACC’s Committee for Racial and Social Justice (CORE - Champions of Racial Equity) in conjunction with its member institutions.

Among the ACC’s initiatives surrounding ACC Unity Week:

• All league social handle profile pictures will feature the ACC UNITE logo
• The ACC will highlight specific themes of UNITY each day of the week
• Conference office will produce a social justice video highlighting the initiatives during the first two months of the season
• The conference will hold a virtual webinar for the ACC’s student-athletes on Oct. 29 on “Activism and Allyship”
• ACC will provide all student-athletes a UNITE wristband to wear
• UNITE logo will be included in ACC Network broadcasts
• Packer and Durham/ACCN to wear UNITE shirts and wristbands on air
• Unity Week information and initiatives will be highlighted on the league’s communications platforms
• ACC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) will post messages and videos celebrating Unity

Scoreboard

Conference Members

Atlantic Coast Conference

Schedule

ACC Cross Country Championships Set Friday