For the North Carolina men’s cross country team, the ACC Championships could not come soon enough. After a disappointing finish at the Wisconsin Invite two weeks ago, the Tar Heels were looking to get the bad taste out of their mouths.
And with a second place finish after Friday’s final race, they did just that.
After a kilometer, Tar Heel runners held three of the top four spots in the race, not the recipe for success coach Mark VanAlstyne had wanted.
“I thought we got out a little bit aggressive again,” VanAlstyne said. “And we did that at Wisconsin and you know it cost us a bit up there. I would have preferred them to take a more conservative approach and be sitting in behind the lead pack.”
The fast start began to take its toll halfway through the race as senior Pat Schellberg, junior Ryan Walling and senior John Raneri began to lose places, and many thought that Syracuse had virtually locked up the race. That was when the veteran upperclassmen began their charge.
Raneri, Walling, Schellberg, and senior Isaac Presson charged throughout the final mile and a half. After the foursome had finished, Syracuse led by a mere three points.
“We knew we had a shot,” VanAlstyne said. “But, it was going to come down to our fifth runner.”
UNC’s hope for the title was placed in fifth runner senior Matt Valeriani, but it soon became clear that it wasn’t meant to be, as Valeriani finished 39th, 18 places behind Syracuse’s final racer.
But, for VanAlstyne, the second place finish was nothing to be ashamed of, especially since the Tar Heels placed four runners on the All-ACC team.
