This past weekend, NC State track and field hosted its annual Raleigh Relays meet. Both collegiate and professional athletes from across the nation participated in the two-day affair held on the historic Paul Derr track.
Though team scoring was not recorded, the Wolfpack took advantage of competing at home and turned in an abundance of impressive early-season performances. Nineteen events featured at least one Wolfpack student-athlete in the top eight.
On the first day of competition, the Pack dominated the field events and distance races.
Redshirt freshman Lauren Evans launched the shot put 49-2 1/4. Her effort was good enough to earn fifth place in her first-ever Raleigh Relays appearance.
This early success was continued by senior Jonathan Addison. Addison won the men’s invitational long jump with a distance of 25-8 3/4. Addison’s mark was nearly an entire foot farther than the next best competitor. The recent NCAA indoor runner-up currently holds a personal best of 26-9 3/4 in the event.
This positive trend in the jumps was sustained when senior Alexis Perry finished second in the women’s invitational long jump with a mark of 19-11 3/4.
True freshman Christopher Garrick took second in the invitational high jump clearing a height of 6-10 3/4.
In the discus ring, redshirt senior and weight throw school record holder Nicole Chavis won with a throw of 161-9.
Meanwhile, on the track, redshirt senior Graham Crawford placed third in the 1,500-meter with a time of 3 minutes, 45.78 seconds. The Burlington native was named second-team outdoor All-American in the event last season.
Redshirt junior Sam Parsons closed out the first day of competition, successfully completing his 10,000-meter debut. The Newark, Delaware native placed fifth in the event with a time of 29:11.87.
Wolfpack performances on the second day of competition were equally as consistent as the first. The Pack showcased its talent in the sprints, hurdles and field events.
Perry kicked off Day Two with a first-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles, achieving a swift time of 13.23 seconds.
Half an hour later, the Wolfpack had two more first-place finishes under its belt. Junior Paisley Simmons and sophomore Quashawn Cunningham swept the women’s and men’s 100-meter respectively.
Simmons won the women’s race with a time of 11.76 seconds, edging out 400-meter Olympian Francena McCorory by .01 seconds.
Cunningham led the way in the men’s race with a mark of 10.38 seconds, finishing .05 seconds ahead of Wolfpack alumnus and NFL wide receiver TJ Graham. Addison also took fourth in the same final with a mark of 10.58 seconds.
Cunningham went on to earn his second first-place finish of the meet in the men’s 200-meter. The Charlotte native dashed his way to a season-best time of 20.94 seconds. Sophomore Shannon Patterson also had a breakthrough in the same event recording a fourth-place finish and personal-best time of 21.17 seconds. Patterson’s mark is a .35-second improvement from his previous best.
In the women’s 200-meter, Simmons took fourth with a time of 24.00 seconds, finishing .57 seconds off of her personal best in the event.
The Pack’s success in the short sprints trickled over to the middle distance as well. Redshirt junior Megan Moye had a breakout race in the 800-meter. Moye finished second by less than .20 seconds and registered a personal-best time of 2:07.67.
The Pack concluded the meet garnering two more top field-event finishes in the women’s triple jump and the men’s hammer throw.
Sophomore Javonne Antoine took third in the women’s triple jump achieving a mark of 40-4. This is the third-consecutive competition Antoine has broken the 40-foot barrier.
Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore Josh Davis finished fifth in the hammer throw with a toss of 197- 9.
After a successful weekend at home, the Wolfpack will split up next weekend, sending competitors to three different events around the country: the High Point Vertklasse, the Stanford Relays and the Florida Relays.
