The NC State track and field team ran to a strong finish at the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships this weekend, as the men finished second and the women seventh. The men in particular posted a significant improvement after coming in 12th last year, and the team’s 93 total points are the most since 2008.
“We got a lot of points from a lot of different areas,” senior Jonathan Addison said. “It was a lot of different ways that we collaborated and got points; it was an all-round team effort.”
The team’s strongest event was the 4×100-meter relay, as the men’s team won the event for the first time since 1989, as Addison, freshman Nyheim Hines and sophomores Shannon Patterson and Quashawn Cunningham combined for a time of 39.42 seconds — 14th best in the country.
“It was excellent, we knew we could do it,” Addison said. “We tweaked a few things here and there throughout the season and we knew we were in a prime position to take control of that event and win it. I’m really proud we were able to do that. Florida State had won seven years in a row, beating them on their home track, it was a really good feeling.”
The women’s team also had a strong relay as junior Paisley Simmons, freshman Gabriele Cunningham, redshirt sophomore Tiana Patillo and senior Alexis Perry combined for a time of 45.41 to finish fifth.
The team also won the 1,500-meter race, as Megan Moye finished with an NC State and ACC Championships record 4:11.91. The men also finished well in the event, as Graham Crawford finished fifth with a time of 3:44.41, good enough for second-team All-ACC honors.
Perry also performed exceptionally well in the 100-meter hurdles, finishing at 12.93, winning silver and qualifying for the USATF Olympic Trials. The women as a whole earned seven points in the sprints and hurdles, as Simmons and Cunningham finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
The men collected 18 points, as Quashawn Cunningham, Patterson, Hines and Addison finished third through sixth, respectively, in the men’s 100-meter dash. The women were also able to earn a solid finish in the 200-meter dash, with Gabriele Cunningham winning silver and Patterson finishing fifth to pick up 12 points.
Moye continued her strong day with the 5,000-meter race, winning silver with a time of 16:33.10. Alyssa Rudawsky came in fifth with a time of 16:43.91 and won first-team All-ACC for the first time in her career. The men continued their own strong day in the 5,000-meter, with redshirt senior Luis Vargas winning silver and redshirt junior Sam Parsons finishing sixth.
Redshirt senior Nicole Chavis finished fifth in the discus with a throw of 155-5, winning second team All-ACC and coming in fifth place. Sophomore Javonne Antoine did well for the Wolfpack in the jumps, finishing sixth in the triple-jump with a mark of 40-9 3/4, earning her second-team All-ACC honors.
“I was grateful, it was the first time I’d ever done so well in discus for the ACC meet, so I was pretty excited,” Chavis said.
The team will look to continue its season of improvement at the NCAA championships as it attempts to improve on last year’s finish, something it already accomplished at the ACC tournament.
“First, it would just be to try to get as many people there as we can,” Addison said. “We have to compete as well as we can at preliminaries. I know we have the ability to get 10-12 guys into the NCAAs, we just have to stay healthy and be at the top of our game again.”
