Oct. 28, 2000

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Wake Forest cross country teams raced Saturday morning at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships. The Demon Deacon women's squad finished third with 92 points on the 5,000 meter course at North Carolina State's University Club Course and the men's team took fourth with 84 points on the 8,000 meter route. Wake Forest runners Sara Day and Ted DeVos earned all-ACC honors for finishing in the top 10 of their races.

Day, a senior from Winston-Salem, N.C., led the Deacs, finishing as the runner-up in the women's race with a time of 18:03. She has led Wake Forest in all five races that she has ran this season, finishing no lower than fourth place. Day was awarded a silver medal as well as an all-conference certificate following the race. Risa Rutland placed 19th in 19:12, Kathleen Kuhnert and Becca Veenstra took 22nd and 23rd respectively in 19:18, Courtney Lancashire finished 26th in 19:25, Nicole Kalogeropooulos crossed in 19:29 for 28th place and Erin Haugh and Kelly Brady rounded out the Deacon corps, finishing 41st and 42nd respectively with times 19:53 and 20:00.

"I'm not going to say that I'm pleased,ä said Wake Forest women's coach Annie Schweitzer Bennett,ä but I am proud to finish third. I am very proud of Sara Day. I can't say enough about how great she did. As a group we got off to a slow start and never really ran the race to win the race. We wanted to place higher. We'll see the same crowd at regionals so we'll just line it up and do again.ä

NC State won the ACC Women's Cross Country Championship with 43 points and North Carolina's Shalane Flanagan captured the individual championship with a time of 17:38. Flanagan was also named the ACC Freshman of the Year.

On the men's side, Ted DeVos paced Wake Forest, taking fourth place with a time of 25:16. A junior from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., DeVos, has led the Deacs in the last three races, progressively improving and culminating Saturday with an all-conference performance. Garick Hill and Chris Estwanik came in 15th and 16th at 25:50 and 25:56 respectively, Josh Buffolino and Sean Nagorny crossed at 25:15 and 25:16 for 24th and 25th respectively, while Jimmy Butler, Dave Barrett and Ed Acosta rounded out the Wake Forest lineup at 27th, 28th and 29th in 26:20, 26:21 and 26:28.

"I think we competed well," said Wake Forest men's coach Gary Sievers. "We had a couple guys who just didn't step up to the plate, but all in all, we'll take it. Where we'll go from here we'll have to see how far the guys want to take it. Ted (DeVos) ran a fantastic race. He may have been the only one to run to his capabilities today. A couple guys have been running with him everyday in practice, so when they determine that they can do that when it counts then we'll be better."

Duke won the ACC Men's Cross Country Championship with 39 points and the Blue Devils' Sean Kelly was the individual champion with a time of 25:00. Andy Smith from NC State was named the ACC Freshman of the Year.

Complete results from the ACC Cross Country Championship are available at www.gopack.com. Wake Forest will be back in action Saturday, Nov. 11 at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships in Greenville, S.C.