From a national championship to a huge rivalry win, it was a month of big performances all throughout the Wolfpack. Here are just a few of the names that stood out in the past 30 days:
Cross Country – Katelyn Tuohy
November marked a few large accomplishments for the Pack women’s cross country team as it capped off a very successful season with another ACC and NCAA Championship.
Junior Katelyn Tuohy also finished her perfect season this month, picking up her first NCAA individual championship in Oklahoma on the back of a new course record with a time of 19:27.7 to help lead the team to its second-straight national title.
Following an incredibly impressive performance all season, she was named the USTFCCCA Southeast Athlete of the Year on Nov. 28.
Football – Christopher Dunn
It wouldn’t be a true top performers article during football season without mention of the name graduate kicker Christopher Dunn, who has stepped up big for the Wolfpack all year.
Particularly impressive in the double overtime win over UNC-Chapel Hill with 12 points of his own, Dunn is now the ACC’s all-time leading scorer.
He earned a number of accolades after an incredible regular season, including ACC Specialist of the Week Honors to round out the month of November and was named to the All-ACC First Team to finish off the year.
Football – Ben Finley
Those who have had a chance at the quarterback position this season have also really stepped up for NC State, and in the month of November, it was redshirt freshman Ben Finley’s time to shine.
Finley made his first career start against the Tar Heels after starting the season on the scout team, and he made the most of his opportunity, going 27-of-40 for 271 yards and two touchdowns.
After the injury to the other standout young quarterback, freshman MJ Morris, earlier in the month, Finley also saw some time in the Louisville game where he grabbed his second career touchdown.
He stepped up when it mattered most, leading the team to one of its biggest victories all season and continuing the Finley family tradition of dominating at Carter-Finley West.
Men’s basketball – Jarkel Joiner
A transfer this season from Ole Miss, graduate guard Jarkel Joiner has already made a large impact on the NC State men’s basketball squad.
Throughout the month of November, he averaged 17.3 points per game to lead the team, and he accumulated a .505 field goal percentage with 47 makes on 93 attempts.
His efforts earned him ACC Player of the Week honors after the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament during the Thanksgiving holiday where he averaged 19.7 points and three rebounds per game.
Fans have seen this Pack men’s basketball team make a big turnaround from the performance at the end of last season, and, while it takes a team effort to make that happen, Joiner has been a large part of what is making the beginning of this season so special.
Women’s basketball – Diamond Johnson
Much like how the men’s basketball team has seen its success this season from a team effort, the women’s basketball team has done the same.
It takes a full team effort to hold a No. 12 national ranking and go 6-1 to begin the year, with its only loss coming against No. 5 UConn, but junior guard Diamond Johnson is one of the many names that have stood out this past month.
She leads the team averaging 13.6 points per game while also averaging 4.7 rebounds with a .480 field goal percentage.
Johnson was also named the MVP of the Cancun Challenge as she averaged 16 points, 5.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds in both games to help the Pack leave Mexico with wins over Vanderbilt and West Virginia.
Volleyball – Martyna Leoniak
Sophomore outside hitter Martyna Leoniak has made a huge impact to round out the final few matches of November and the regular season.
Among her accomplishments, she picked up her sixth career double-double with 13 kills and 15 digs in the big senior-day win over Notre Dame, and she led the team with 16 kills and four aces in the season finale at Syracuse.
Wrestling – Trent Hidlay, Isaac Trumble and Ryan Jack
November also marked the beginning of another wrestling season here on campus.
While the team as a whole is still undefeated, only three individual wrestlers who are starters on the squad have won all their matches so far.
Redshirt junior Trent Hidlay and sophomores Isaac Trumble and Ryan Jack are all currently 5-0 to begin the year, marking an incredible first month of competition.
Hidlay already has two ranked matchups under his belt, while Trumble and Jack each have one.
Women’s soccer – Annika Wohner
While this does feel like forever ago, it was earlier this month that the Pack women’s soccer team competed in the first round of the NCAA tournament where it fell in penalty kicks to UCF.
Despite the loss, the Wolfpack put up a fight throughout the entire match, and sophomore midfielder Annika Wohner deserves praise after she grabbed NC State’s one and only goal on a penalty kick in the minute 53 of action.
