Nov. 19, 2001

Greenville, S.C.--The NC State men's and women's cross country squads finished in the top 10 at Monday's NCAA Championships on the campus of Furman University. The women posted a score of 148 points, second only to BYU's 62 points. The second-place finish is the highest ever for the women's program since they finished second at the 1987 NCAA Championships. The NC State men took ninth with a tally of 293 points.

Leading the way for the Wolfpack women was sophomore Kristin Price, who took fourth overall with a time of 20:36. Junior Megan Coombs was the next finisher with a 13th-overall showing at 21:00, followed by Katie Sabino in 21st with a mark of 21:08. All are expected to earn All-American honors for their performances.

Two-time senior All-American Christy Nichols (50th, 21:41) was the fourth runner across the line for the Wolfpack, followed by Beth Fonner (94th, 22:06), Beth Kraft (97th, 22:08) and Josianne Lauber (173rd, 22:50).

The Wolfpack men were led by junior Chad Pearson, who took 31st overall with a mark of 30.04. Senior Chris Seaton was 35th overall (30:06), followed by Devin Swann (95th, 30:57), David Christian (100th, 31:00), Ryan Woods (107th, 31:04), senior All-American Chris Dugan (110th, 31:05) and sophomore All-American Andy Smith (147th, 31:28).

"Our women penetrated that top part of the order exceptionally well," said head coach Rollie Geiger. "We had three women among the top 21 finishers so we were really on our game there."

"I really want to give credit to Christy Nichols, who ran very well in a new role for us. Beth Fonner also came in and slammed the door for us at #5 with a good run."

"Obviously, our men are very disappointed," continued Geiger. "We just didn't stick to our game plan early on and that definitely showed."

"Chris Dugan was also sick for us today and it's very, very difficult to feel that way and run 10,000 meters."

The Wolfpack cross country programs now have 17 top-10 finishes in the history of the NCAA Championships.