Wolfpack track and field wrapped up the Raleigh Relays on Saturday, March 26, earning a third-place finish behind multiple PR performances.
Personal records were large in number on the last day of the competition, with eight different athletes topping their previous best showings. From hammer throws to distance running, the Pack showed plenty of improvement and promise for the future of the program.
All three members of the Wolfpack women’s hammer throw squad posted PRs, with sophomore Makala Wright, senior Kayla Beasley and sophomore Mahkayla Hart posting distances of 51.20 meters, 46.47 meters and 40.80 meters respectively. On the men’s side of things, graduate student Andrew Haberman’s performance was just as impressive; posting a throw of 58.97 meters, the fourth-highest mark in the program’s history.
Staying true to the name of the event, the Wolfpack men’s 4x100m relay squad managed to finish in third with a time of 40.60. Composed of junior Henry Young, senior Alan Alvarez, graduate student Von Douglas and senior Cameron Murray, the team fell just short of first placed Ohio State’s mark of 39.69 in the event.
Alvarez would go on to put up a personal best in the men’s 200 meter competition, along with his teammate sophomore Isaiah Gadson, who posted marks of 21.26 and 21.43 respectively. The PR times for both individuals earned NC State a pair of top-10 finishes in the event, with Alvarez’s time good enough for fifth place and Gadson’s falling closely behind at ninth.
Distance running proved to be troublesome despite the Pack boasting a pair of PRs in the men’s 800 meter. Sophomores Zach Hughes and Jake Toomey were another set of NC State athletes to put up personal best times with the athletes finishing with times of 1:51.93 and 1:53.48 respectively. Unfortunately, the PR times for Hughes and Toomey weren’t as impactful for the Pack’s overall position, with the athletes finishing ninth and 54th with junior Kyle Durham’s time of 1:52.69 falling almost right in the middle at 30th place in the event.
Wrapping up the PRs for the day was sophomore Nahsheeda Facey’s 5.26 meter mark in the women’s long jump. The distance was only good enough for 35th overall in the event, with her teammate junior Jirah Sidberry being the only member of the Pack to place higher than Facey with a distance of 5.46m, good enough for 24th in the contest.
After competing in its first home event in almost a year, the Pack now puts its attention towards the upcoming Duke Invite to be hosted in Durham, NC from Thursday, April 7 through Saturday, April 9. The last time the Pack competed in Durham it earned a plethora of podium finishes, including an unforgettable performance from now senior Hannah Steelman in the women’s 3000m steeplechase that saw her break not only a program record, but a facility record as well with a time of 9:46.35.
