Redshirt juniors Erin Mercer and Samantha Norman come out of the water hurdle during the womens 3000 meter steeplechase race at the Raleigh Relays Friday, March 29, 2013. The Wolfpack women's team finished third in the ACC Outdoor Championships Saturday in Raleigh, it's best finish in the event since the 1986 season. Photo by Ryan Parry.
N.C. State women’s track and field garnered its best finish since 1986 this weekend at the Atlantic Coast Conference’s track and field championships. The women finished in third place behind conference champion Clemson and runner-up Florida State. The team totaled 82 points during the three-day event.
“There were three main successful parts to the program,” track and field head coach Rollie Geiger said. “It was Karimah in the jumps, Trim in the throws and Andie.”
Men’s track and field took home an eighth-place finish in the events with 39 total points.
Senior Andie Cozzarelli finished second in the women’s 10,000-meter finals with a time of 34:15:47. She was the only member of the Wolfpack to get a top-10 finish in a distance event.
Cozzarelli also picked up a fourth-place finish in the 5,000-meter event in 16:03.82. She was named to the ACC All-Conference team from this weekend’s performance.
“Each year she’s raised her level,” Geiger said. “Andie’s just an athlete. Anyone’s who’s been a part of the program from five years will get better each year.”
Freshman Alexis Perry also saw success in the 100-meter hurdles. She finished in fourth with a time of 13.73 seconds.
The State women had a strong showing in the field events. Redshirt freshman SeQuoia Watkins took second-place in the discus event and redshirt sophomore Tremanisha Taylor also had a second-place finish in the shot put. Senior Karimah Shepherd picked up State’s lone first-place in the field events with a 6.43-meter jump.
Geiger also said injuries led to a disappointing finish for the men’s team.
“We went into the contest not at full strength, and it was evident,” Geiger said. “We had some issues prior to going into the race with some of our better athletes and it showed up on the score.”
“We have an outstanding thrower in Nate Williams and he has a bone bruise on his throwing hand,” Geiger said. “You can’t throw a discus if you have a bone bruise. Things like that at the end of the day are going to cost you on the performance level.”
Redshirt junior Andrew Colley stood out for the team. He finished the 5,000-meter event in third and garnered All-Conference honors. Redshirt freshman Graham Crawford rounded out the top-three in the 1,500-meter race.
Senior Kris Kornegay-Gober had a third-place finish in the
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high jump and redshirt senior Brian Himelright also finished third in the steeplechase. Both were also named All-Conference performers.
Geiger also said a critical fall in the men’s 4×400-meter relay caused the Wolfpack some much needed points. Geiger thought a foul should have been called on the exchange, but none was called.
N.C. State’s next event will be in Philadelphia for Penn Relays April 25-27, but Geiger said the team is now pointing its efforts toward qualifying for regionals.
“Most important thing we can do is qualify to the regional championships and you put your athletes in position for the NCAA’s,” Geiger said.