The Wake Forest men’s cross country team parlayed a dominant ACC Championship performance into a historic fifth-place finish in the NCAA Championships, capping off one of the most successful campaigns in program history.
In late-October, the Demon Deacons claimed the ACC Championship, with four runners finishing in the top eight of the event.
“It was incredibly important,” said John Hayes, Wake Forest director of track & field and Cross Country. “The ACC is the most difficult and toughest conference in the NCAA for both men’s and women’s cross country. It’s deep and strong all the way through. To beat the best, that felt really good. The guys worked hard. When I first arrived, we were 14th out of 15 in the ACC. Things have changed and it felt really good. The guys were excited.”
“I like to tell the guys that it’s my job to create moments. That’s a moment in their life that they will always remember.”
Wake Forest runners Aaron Las Heras, Luke Tewalt, Thomas Vanoppen and Zach Facioni all finished in the top eight of the event, and five other Deacs placed within the top-60: Joaquin Martinez de Pinillos, Ben Mitchell, Weber Long, Daniel Winter and Rynard Swanepoel. The Deacs finished a massive 42 points ahead of second-place Syracuse to claim the title.
“We didn’t just win — we dominated that meet,” Hayes said. “To do it the way we did was wild. When Zach got here, it was cool to see a Wake Forest guy in the top-10. You didn’t see that. You really weren’t seeing a Wake Forest cross country guy in the top-30. Zach was the first guy to be in the top-10, then we started seeing a second guy a few years ago in Jack Tiernan.”
“At one time in this championship, we had five guys across the front. That just made a statement to everybody. Joaquin faded a bit, but we placed four in the top eight. To place four in the top eight in the strongest conference in the country, it’s not like we did it in some rinky-dink competition. It was incredibly exciting and is a moment these young men will remember their whole lives. When they come back to Wake Forest in the future as an alum, they’re going to always remember that.”
Entering the Southeast Regionals as the No. 7 team in the country two weeks later, the Deacs realized they didn’t have to claim first place to advance to the national championships just seven days later, but Hayes was still…
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