CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – Back-to-back NCAA women’s champion NC State is the unanimous choice to claim its eighth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference title, while North Carolina received the nod on the men’s side as the ACC Cross Country Coaches Preseason Polls were announced on Thursday.
The Wolfpack, which earned a No. 1 preseason national ranking from the USTFCCCA on Wednesday, received all 15 first-place votes in the ACC women’s poll for 225 total points. Notre Dame (203 total points), North Carolina (193), Virginia (188) and Florida State (146) rounded out the top five.
The North Carolina men, seeking the program’s 10th ACC title and first since 1985, received six first-place votes and finished with 213 total points. Notre Dame closely followed the Tar Heels with three first-place votes and 197 points, while Virginia finished third with three first-place votes and 189 points. Syracuse claimed a first-place vote and 176 points to finish fourth while defending ACC champion Wake Forest claimed fifth with two first-place votes and 165 points.
Defending ACC champion and the 2022-23 ACC Female Athlete of the Year Katelyn Tuohy returns to the Wolfpack lineup that became the first team to win back-to-back national titles since 2009-10. In 2022, Tuohy swept the postseason with titles at the ACC Championship, the NCAA Southeast Regional and the NCAA Championship. Senior Kelsey Chmiel, who placed second at the ACC Championship and Southeast Regional and third at the NCAA Championship, also returns to a stacked NC State squad.
Two-time All-Americans Olivia Markezich (Notre Dame) and Sam Bush (NC State), and 2022 All-Americans Kelsey Harrington (North Carolina), Savannah Roark (Syracuse) and Amina Maatoug (Duke) also return for 2023.
On the men’s side, two-time All-American Parker Wolfe returns to the North Carolina lineup following a seventh-place finish at the 2022 NCAA Championship and a second-place finish at the 2022 Southeast Regional. With Wolfe leading the way, the Tar Heels claimed 10th at the NCAA Championship, their best finish since 1985. The defending ACC champion, Notre Dame’s Carter Solomon, also returns for 2023 following earning All-America status at the NCAA Championship.
Fellow All-American Luke Tewalt also returns for 2023 after he helped lead Wake Forest to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA…
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