Sports > November 20, 2008

By Jordan Griesbeck | Staff writer

Wake Forest hosted the 2008 NCAA Southeast Cross Country Regionals Saturday, Nov. 15 at Tanglewood Park in Clemmonsville, N.C., as a crowd of nearly 1,900 people watched teams from around the Southeast compete for spots in the NCAA Championships. Though the Wake Forest men did not run a full squad, they were impressive nonetheless.

“On the men’s side, they ran well and did a great job out there for what we had. (Sophomore) Greg Billington composed himself and learned a lot and really had a nice race. Paul Loeser also did well for a freshman,” Head Coach Annie Bennett said. “We’re excited to see what the future has to hold for these guys.”

Billington paced the men, running the 10k course in a time of 32:14. His 52nd place finish was the highest of Wake men for the second straight year. Billington will continue to lead the team along with Loeser in the coming years.

Running in his last career cross country race, senior Zach Hines finished in 36:39.

ACC Rookie of the Year Anna Nosenko led the way for the women, finishing the 6k race at 21:37. Her 21st place finish was quickly followed by sophomore Marley Burns, who ran 21:39 and finished in 23rd.

Not far behind were freshman Dina Nosenko and redshirt senior Merry Placer. They finished in 38th and 48th, respectively. Sophomore Caitlin Crawford and freshman Laura Rapp rounded out the Deacons in 142nd and 154th place.

“Unfortunately for the women, we lost our No. 1 runner all year,” Bennett said. “We’ve been really consistent all season so it’s very sad that we’re not going to the NCAA Championships. But overall, I was pleased with the effort of our main group. We’ve just got some more work to do.”

Thankfully for the women, there is a lot of young talent to work with. The Demon Deacons will return six of their top seven women from the season — including All-ACC junior Allie Kieffer — and will look to improve on their third place finish in the ACC and 11th place finish in the Southeast Regional.

The men are just as young, losing only two seniors, and Billington and Loeser will lead a squad that can only improve through the indoor and outdoor track seasons and into next year.