GRAD TRANSFER: Nate Kawalec to Finish Eligibility at Tennessee

Earlier today, former NC State runner Nate Kawalec announced that he has signed with the Tennessee men via Instagram. He joins the Volunteers as a graduate transfer and he is expected to have two years of eligibility across all three seasons of eligibility.

Kawalec is a monumental pick-up for the Volunteers, one who dramatically changes the outlook of their men's cross country team this fall.

The former NC State runner had a huge breakout season this past spring, producing three 5k marks in the 13:50s as well as a fourth mark of 13:39 which is now his personal best.

Admittedly, that 13:39 mark is overwhelmingly Kawalec's best result, although there are still other highly respectable performances on his resume. Last fall, for instance, he finished 19th at the Southeast Regional XC Championships.

Tennessee's newest distance coach, Sean Carlson, now has a key middle lineup scorer to pair with recent standout transfers such as Dylan Jacobs, Yaseen Abdalla and individual national meet qualifier, Karl Thiessen.

Going into this fall season, the one (and maybe only) knock on the Volunteers' current roster was that they didn't have enough depth to safely qualify for the national meet in November.

But Carlson has seemingly understood that and has since gone after a high-potential name who could be very dangerous this fall.

Yes, it's true, we do not yet know how Kawalec will translate his 13:39 personal best to the grass. However, even if he simply replicates his 2021 regional meet result, then he'll still add extremely valuable scoring to a Tennessee lineup that was one piece away from truly making some serious noise.