McCormack Earns All-ACC Honor, Tiger Women Match Best ACC Cross Country Finish in 12 Years

Oct. 29, 2011

2011 ACC Championships Results | Photo Gallery 

CLEMSON, SC – Clemson matched its best women’s finish in 12 years with a sixth-place team effort Saturday at the ACC Cross Country Championships. In addition, sophomore Ty McCormack was eighth in the men’s race to earn his first All-ACC recognition at Clemson’s Musser Farms course. It was the first time since 2001 Clemson had played host to an ACC Cross Country Championship Meet.

The first race of the day was the men’s 8,000-meter competition. Clemson’s McCormack made a move toward the middle portion of the race and actually held a sizeable lead for a couple thousand meters. He put together another personal best time on the Musser Farms course, clocking an 8K time of 23:28.2. His previous best was 23:56.72 on the same course when he won the Clemson Invitational in September.

McCormack was Clemson’s first all-conference selection in men’s cross country since Matt Clark was eighth place at the 2007 meet in Charlottesville, VA.

“This was at home and was a big deal for Clemson, so I wanted to try and go for the win,” McCormack said. “I took the lead around the 2K mark and tried to push as hard as I could. A lot of the guys are a little older and stronger than me, and they got me in the end. I was happy with an all-conference honor. It was an all-or-nothing effort. It was a good representation for Clemson University.”

The men finished 10th as a team on Saturday. The Tigers’ second-best performer was senior Jonathan Sunde, who crossed the finish line in 62nd place with an 8K time of 25:04. The other three scorers from the men’s side were Martin Maloney, Aaron Ramirez and Scott Stanley.

The women finished sixth and ran well as a group. The team finish was a three-spot improvement for the Tigers over last season’s ninth-place effort in Boston. Clemson did not have an all-conference selection in the women’s race, but the Tigers’ top five runners all placed between 24th and 38th.

Alyssa Kulik once again took charge for the Tigers. She was 24th to lead all Clemson individuals. The senior from Simpsonville, SC posted a time of 21:07.4. The gap from Kulik to the team’s fifth-place runner, Elyse Borisko, was just 17 seconds.

“We worked better today as a team than we have all season,” Kulik said. “We ran in a tight pack. Kim (Ruck) ran up next to me late in the race and told me, `Come on, this is our last ACC meet.’ That helped me finish stronger than I would have if she wasn’t next to me. It was great to run in front of the home crowd, because you could hear people not only cheering you on, but all the other girls as well.”

Kate Borowicz was the second-best runner for the Tigers on Saturday. A Georgia Tech transfer who had to sit out the 2010-11 cross country and track season, Borowicz had a time of 21:14.9 to cross the finish line 31st overall. She was followed immediately in 32nd and 33rd by two teammates, Natalie Anthony (21:15.9) and Ruck (21:16.1). Borisko was fifth amongst the team with a 40th-place individual effort, with a personal best 6K time of 21:24.6.

The Tigers return to action in two weeks in Louisville, KY for the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships.