Just hours before the rain commenced on Saturday night, the Raleigh Relays wrapped up in what was the biggest and only home meet for the Wolfpack. As head coach Rollie Geiger watched the thousands of athletes, coaches and fans from around the country pile in and out of Paul Derr Track, he was pleased at how well the N.C. State community hosted this grand event.
“We accomplished our goal of having athletes walk away from this facility and saying that N.C. State knows how to put a track and field meet on,” Geiger said. “This triangle meet not only generates interest to the community, but generates tax dollars to the city of Raleigh, such as athletes staying in hotels; it’s a real plus for the community and for here at N.C. State.”
Friday began with a men’s discus throw of 160 feet and 3 inches by N.C. State freshmen Jule Rich who participated unattached.
There were three N.C. State athletes who participated in the men’s long jump; junior Emmanuel Davis with a 23 feet, 6 inch jump at fourth place, redshirt senior Lamont Savage following teammate Davis in fifth place at 23 feet, 3 ½ inches and finally junior Kwame Boatwright with a 22 feet, 8 ½ inch jump in seventh place.
Other men’s field events included the high jump with Wolfpack three-time All-ACC performer Kris Kornegay-Gober who placed fourth in the men’s high jump at six feet, 10 ¾ inches, followed by teammate Christian Council in seventh at six feet, 6 ¾ inches.
On the distance side, redshirt freshmen Andrew Colley and senior Adam Henken finished third and fourth in the 5,000-meter race with times of 13:56.02 and 13:58.96, respectively.
In the women’s 5,000-meter race, junior Andie Cozzarelli finished eigth at 16:44.38 and senior Kara McKenna took 11th place with a time of 17:04.54.
Cozzarelli enjoyed the weather conditions Friday evening as she lead a group of racers in the 5,000 meter run behind post-collegiate runner Lauren Bonds of the adidas Raleigh Track Club who nearly beat the 19-year-old meet record in Section I of the 5,000 meters. After two miles Cozzarelli said she started to lose steam.
“At first I didn’t think it was going to be too hard leading, but once I started to get tired, it was aggravating,” Cozzarelli said. “Pretty much I think my legs started to feel tired and I kind of started to give into the pain, but weather wise, the temperature was perfect.”
Saturday was a different day for weather conditions however, and many athletes felt it was best to opt out of a few races in order to not injure themselves from the brisk weather.
Sophomore Ben Major, however, did not opt out and won the 100 meters for the Wolfpack with a time of 10.66 seconds. Major also competed in the 4 X 100 meter and 4 X 400 meter relay squads, which finished fifth and seventh, respectively. But because of such damp weather, which dropped below 50 degrees, Major withdrew from the 200-meter dash.
For junior Kwame Boatwright, who was the Wolfpack’s top triple jumper during the last two indoor seasons, 50 degrees is not the typical weather he’s looking for to break is goal of 50 feet.
“Although it was a good way to start the season, it’s hard to do your best jump less than 50 degree weather,” Boatwright said. “Everyone didn’t do as well as they wanted to and for me it was pretty frustrating to be so close to my goal.”
Boatwright’s triple jump on Saturday came to a measurement of 49 feet and 6 ¼ inches. Coach Chris Coleman said he was pleased anyway.
“I’m really proud of him the way he jumped in this weather,” Coleman said. “He is my hardest worker; always coming to practice.”
The Wolfpack will travel to Gainesville, FL on Friday, April 1st for the Florida Relays.
