Nov. 12, 2005

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Close does not count in cross country, but NC State came oh, so close. Only five points separated the Wolfpack from second-place Virginia on Saturday at the NCAA Southeast Cross Country Regional Championships, but only the top two teams move on from here.

That means that the NCAA Cross Country Championships, to be held November 21 in Terre Haute, Ind., will not feature the NC State men for the first time since 1994.

William & Mary, ranked 17th nationally, won the regional with a score of 68, followed by the 19th-ranked Cavaliers with 91 points. NC State was third with 96. With fourth-place Duke a mile behind with a team score of 198, the race became a game of musical chairs between the top three teams, with only two seats available for nationals.

Redshirt-sophomore John Crews led the Pack, finishing seventh overall with a time of 30:15.0, just 4.2 seconds out of fifth. Redshirt-sophomore Chris Kollar came in 14th in a time of 30:33.5, and he was only five seconds out of 12th place. Redshirt-sophomore Stephen Furst was 23rd at 30:44.2, just 3.8 seconds out of 20th place. Redshirt-junior Bryce Ruiz was 25th at 30:50.3, and redshirt-sophomore Tibor Veigh was 27th at 30:51.0.