NC State track and field sent athletes to compete in both the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina and the Valentine Invitational in Boston, Massachusetts on Friday, Feb. 10 and Saturday, Feb. 11. The Pack set three new school records over the course of the weekend.
At the Valentine Invite, four Wolfpack athletes raced in the women’s distance events on Friday. In a very competitive field, junior Gionna Quarzo finished 18th in the 5000m. Her time of 15:51.12 is a new personal best and the eighth-best time in NC State history. In the mile, senior Samantha Bush clocked in at 4:37.90 to take 25th. Graduate student Savannah Shaw and freshman Grace Hartman raced in the 3000m, coming in 33rd and 50th, respectively.
The red-and-white sent a much bigger cohort to compete in the shorter distance and the throwing events at the Tiger Paw Invitational. The first day of competition was highlighted by graduate student Cameron Murray’s school record-breaking performance in the men’s 60m hurdle final. Murray clocked in at 7.61, which earned him second place.
Junior Makala Wright and graduate students Sarah LaTour and Jamar Davis took home the Pack’s only other podium finishes of the day. Davis leaped 7.68m to take third in the men’s long jump, and LaTour clocked in at 4:51.38 to place third in the women’s mile. In the women’s weight throw, Wright took first with her throw of 18.76m. Her mark is the sixth-best in Wolfpack history.
On Saturday, NC State’s men’s distance squad took the stage at the Valentine Invite. Junior Zach Huges set a new school record in the 800m, coming in at 1:49.55. In the men’s 5000m, graduate student Ian Shanklin, junior Ian Harrison and freshman David Vorbach finished 10th, 17th and 26th, respectively.
The second day of competition in Clemson saw senior Caroline Lewis record a new personal best in the 800m at 2:12.48, a time that now ranks 10th-best in school history. In the men’s 800m, freshman Patrick Gibbons and sophomores Wesley Larson and Grant Howlett all recorded personal bests.
Juniors Brett Gardner and Jake Toomey continued the trend in the men’s mile, setting new personal bests of their own. Gardner’s mark of 3:58.15 is the second-best in NC State history. Sophomore Jakerra Covington rounded out the red-and-white slew of personal bests, leaping 1.59m in the high jump.
The Pack aims to set some more school records on Friday, Feb. 17 when part of the team travels to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to compete in the JDL DMR Invitational while another Wolfpack squad heads to Blacksburg, Virginia to compete in the VT Challenge.
