Dynasty: NC State women's cross country claims fourth NCAA Championship in last five seasons

After winning three straight NCAA titles in 2021, 2022 and 2023, NC State women’s cross country didn’t make the podium last season. Instead, the Wolfpack posted an eighth-place finish in its first-post Katelyn Tuohy championship meet at Wisconsin a year ago. 

While it was a result that some might have thought the three-time defending champions would have been displeased with, NC State was actually proud of that top-10 finish. Fast forward 12 months later, and well, the Wolfpack returned to the top of the sport as it lived up to its No. 1 ranking at the University of Missouri’s Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Mo., on Saturday morning.

NC State, which won with a score of 114, edged No. 2 BYU by 16 points as it held off the Cougars, the Pack’s top competition going into the meet, down the back half of the 6k race. 

Junior Hannah Gapes led the Wolfpack with a fifth-place finish in 18:51.3, while junior Grace Hartman was right on her hip in sixth (18:52.6). Sophomore Bethany Michalak placed 29th (19:14.9), sophomore Angelina Napoleon was 40th (19:22.7) and freshman Sadie Engelhardt was 51st  (19:32.4) to round out the title-winning scoring. 

For 20th-year Wolfpack coach Laurie Henes, the brisk Missouri morning didn’t go exactly how the Pack had planned, but the team was still able to add to its dynasty as it claimed its fourth national title in the last five years.  

“It’s awesome,” Henes said on the ESPN broadcast. “It wasn’t perfect today, but we always talk about how it doesn’t have to be perfect to end up with the results that you want. We had people that had maybe not their best days, but they just kept fighting and it all came together. I’m super grateful to be coaching these women. I’m so proud of them.”

NC State trailed Oregon through the first 2,000 kilometers, but the Wolfpack was able to work its way through the field once it hit the halfway mark. From then on, NC State was able to drop the hammer, moving through the crowded group of runners to hold the top spot over the final 3,000 kilometers in the victory. 

Gapes surged through the field as she was 27th through the first 2,000 before rising to 17th at the 3k mark before entering the top 10 for the final 3,000 meters of the race. Hartman, meanwhile, ran from inside the top group from the start, reaching as high as third with 1,000 meters to go before finishing sixth.

The Wolfpack completed a perfect run through the postseason on the NCAA’s biggest stage. NC State breezed through the ACC Championship with a 61-point win over Notre Dame for its 30th conference crown before the Pack claimed the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship a few weeks later with a 45-point victory over South Carolina in Charlottesville, Va., earlier this month.

Then, NC State went toe-to-toe with BYU, a team that many viewed as the favorite to win the title, for the first time and it found a way to win a gritty race in Middle America. The Wolfpack danced with the championship trophy, beaming with joy as the program returned to the top of the podium in women’s cross country. 

A party-filled team room was waiting for the team after, with Raising Cane’s chicken tenders and Nothing Bundt Cake desserts among other things to begin the party. Finally, the Wolfpack could celebrate bringing yet another title back to Raleigh. 

But last year’s result, one that the Pack wasn’t upset about in 2024, made the university’s sixth-ever team national title in any sport feel just a little bit sweeter afterwards. 

“We were actually really happy with it last year,” Henes said. “I think a lot of people might not have realized it. We were very young, we had some issues, so for a lot of the same people to come back and do so much better and get back on top of the podium, it’s just very gratifying.”