Laurie Henes is sure to miss Elly Henes this fall in women’s cross country.

Besides the mother-daughter relationship, Elly Henes was also the Pack’s best runner a year ago. She was NC State’s first individual ACC champ in the sport since 2010, and she finished 10th at nationals. Her efforts helped the Pack win a fourth straight ACC team title in the sport and finish fifth overall at the NCAA Championships.

But as Elly Henes gets ready to focus on a last year that she will have available in track and field in the spring and summer of 2021, the cross country team is looking ahead to even brighter days than a top-5 finish for the third time in five years.

For one, Henes is the only significant departure from the core racing group.

In her freshman season, Kelsey Chmiel was an All-American at NCAA after also finishing fourth individually at the ACC. Chmiel was the top finishing performer among freshmen at the NCAA Championship meet.

“It’s really exciting to me how well did Kelsey as a freshman,” Laurie Henes noted. “She was very good in high school, but it’s a different stage.”

Also returning from a deep group of runners include rising fifth-year senior Dominique Clairmonte, a two-time top-10 finisher at ACCs who rebounded from a disappointing conference meet this year to be NC State’s third best runner at NCAAs. Rising senior Julia Zachgo was 12th at the ACC meet and sixth in the NCAA Southeast Regional, and throughout the year she was among NC State’s top three runners in four of the six events she ran.

After redshirting in 2018, Mariah Howlett ran huge for NC State in the postseason during her rookie season, finishing fourth best on the team in both the Regional and Championship meets. Rising junior Savannah Shaw was All-ACC after finishing 21st in the ACC meet, and she was fifth best on the team in both of the NCAA races. Rising redshirt junior Nevada Moreno, a local product who transferred from Stanford, made her Wolfpack debut by being the fifth best runner at ACC (finishing 26th overall).

Henes also noted that true freshman Sam Bush showed considerable promise in her debut season.

Then there are the additions, and it’s a loaded group. It is the unquestioned top signing class in the country and perhaps one of the best ever.

“Fairly early in the fall as we were doing these visits it was apparent that it turned out that we were just a really good fit for a lot of these athletes,” Henes noted. “I didn’t necessarily intend to get quite that big, but everybody was at that level that really wanted to be a part of this program.

“It was hard not to do that. We found a way to make it work.”

The headliner is Katelyn Tuohy, who was the Gatorade Female High School Athlete of the Year in 2018. She was also the Gatorade Nationals Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year three times and owns numerous high school records, including fastest 5K in cross country (16:06.87) and fastest mile (4:33.87).

Not far behind Tuohy is Marlee Starliper, the winner of the 2019 New Balance National Outdoor Nationals Mile and runner up in the 2019 Foot Locker Nationals cross country meet. The two-time Pennsylvania Gatorade Cross Country of the Year runner, Starliper’s best mile time (4:37.76) is not far behind Tuohy’s. Both of their times would have been good enough to potentially win an ACC title in the indoor track and field mile.

“I think both of them are really looking forward,” Henes noted. “Katelyn in particular was at a high school that went to nationals as a team her eighth grade or ninth grade year but not again. She ended up at nationals by herself instead of with her team the last few years, and I think one of her big things was she didn’t want to do nationals by herself. You can make it as individuals, but you want to be there with your team.

“Marlee’s high school team almost won a state title this year. She wants to be on a team that can be on a podium and have those opportunities. That was a huge part of it.”

Henes noted that NC State may never had two runners in one class come in as accomplished as Tuohy and Starliper, but it does not stop there.

Alyssa Hendrix from Riverview, Fla., was the Gatorade Cross Country Runner of the Year in Florida and a 2019 Foot Locker Nationals All-American. She won a state title in cross country as a senior and in track in the 1,600 and 3,200 meter races as a junior. Jenna Schulz from Liverpool, N.Y., is a two-time All-American and three-time Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) qualifier.

Claire Waters is a four-time All-American in the NXN with three straight top-five finishes. (Tuohy is a three-time winner of the race.)

Rounding out the haul is Gionna Quarzo, who won a state track title in 2019 for Brownsville (Pa.) Area High in the 3,200-meter race and finished third in cross country this past fall.

If those were not enough, Henes is adding Wofford All-American transfer Hannah Steelman to the mix. The five-time All-American in track was 23rd overall in the 2019 NCAA Cross Country Championships, practically crossing the line with NC State’s Chmiel. Steelman won the individual Southern Conference title back-to-back years before announcing her move to NC State.

“I think the addition of Hannah is really big because she has been on the stage,” Henes noted.

Henes is quick to note her current roster played a huge role in the additions.

“They worked hard on the official visits and the recruiting too,” Henes said. “They’re excited that the culture of the program is being able to draw athletes in at that level.”

Between the returning and new additions, Henes has good problems for a coach to face.

“When you got that many high level athletes together, as a coach your biggest job is controlling and containing in that situation because you have a lot of high level athletes who love training hard and want to win,” she said.

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