NC State Track and Field is gearing up to compete in the ACC Indoor Championships from Feb. 24-26 in Blacksburg, Virginia, with the Pack looking to capitalize on all of its successes in the winter season with an oh-so-sweet ACC title.
With the Pack having plenty of success in its last outing at the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational, it’s as warm as possible for the challenge of climbing the ACC ladder in an attempt to be the one team left standing at the end of the event.
The festivities kick off on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 11 a.m. with the women’s pentathlon, an event that senior Timara Chapman and redshirt senior Mikieja Covington have excelled in all season. Coming in with the fourth and eighth highest scores for the event in the conference all season, respectively, the two will be expected to carry a lot of the load for the Pack if it wishes to earn an advantage in the tournament’s first scheduled event.
Other events on opening day include the distance medley relay for both the men and women and half of the competitions within the men’s heptathlon. The women’s DMR squad will hope to replicate its success from the JDL DMR Invitational where it posted a 10:58.80, the third-fastest time in the ACC this year, while the men will hope to build off of its season-best 9:50.29 at the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational.
The competition really heats up on Friday, Feb. 21 with the remainder of the men’s heptathlon and various track and field events. Key members of the Pack to keep an eye on in Friday’s outings include junior Kelsey Chmiel and graduate student Gavin Gaynor in their respective one-mile prelims, junior Jirah Sidberry in the women’s long jump and graduate student Ja’Von Douglas in the men’s long jump whose 8.08-meter performance at the Bob Pollock invitational is a season’s best for the ACC.
The meet’s final day closes out a lot of Friday’s preliminary events with final races to determine who gets to sit atop the conference when it’s all said and done. Outside of the concluding competitions for the track events, junior Chris Alexander will hope to top the table in the men’s triple jump. Alexander has shown plenty of promise in his capabilities to do so throughout the season, posting distances as high as the second-best in the conference this year.
Sophomore Katelyn Tuohy will also be looking to top the table, this time in the women’s 3000m finals on Saturday. Tuohy’s 8:54.17 at the BU Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener still remains the second-best time in the conference this season, followed by times from four other Wolfpack runners. The women’s team for the 3000m event is in a prime position to earn some much-needed placements in the event and has a high probability of boasting an individual conference champ.
The three-day event is jam-packed with a seemingly endless number of contests, giving NC State a seemingly endless number of chances to produce some conference champions. For both the men and the women, conquering the conference is no small task, but with the performances each team has been able to clock in this season, it’s far from out of the question.
