The NC State men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams impressed in the Virginia Tech Elite Meet this weekend against some of the nation’s top programs.
The meet featured 11 teams from the ACC, along with four from the SEC and one representative from the AAC in East Carolina.
Six of the 15 competing schools on the men’s side entered the meet having been ranked in the USTFCCCA’s Top 25 rankings. The Florida Gators sat at No. 2 in the nation, followed by No. 3 Arkansas, No. 6 Georgia, No. 10 Virginia Tech, No. 19 Florida State and No. 25 Tennessee.
For the women, five of the 15 held top rankings in the poll. The Florida Gators entered the meet ranked No. 1 in all the land, followed by No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 6 Kentucky and No. 12 Florida State.
This meet would not only allow the Wolfpack to measure itself against some of the NCAA’s best teams, but it would also provide the Pack with another golden opportunity to notch qualifying marks and tune-up for the ACC Indoor Championships on Feb. 26-28.
Freshman Megan Rempel was the first NC State athlete to set an ACC qualifying mark. Rempel took first place at the meet’s opening event in the mile run with a time of 4.49.27.
Sophomore Paisley Simmons was the second Wolfpack woman to grab a qualifying mark with a fifth-place finish in the 200m sprint. Simmons is already eligible for the 60m sprint at the ACC Championships, but after running a 24.35 run in the 200m, Simmons will compete in that event as well.
For the men, junior Brian Davis and freshman Abdur Rahmaan Kelly nearly set qualifying marks in the 400m with finishes of ninth and tenth place, respectively. Sophomore Will Krehnbrink led Davis and Kelly with a season best time of 48.55 and a fourth place finish.
Krehnbrink was one of the many Wolfpack men to set season-high marks. Sophomore Cameron Cooper and freshman Dorian Williams went for season-high marks in the 60m sprint while Cooper, Davis, Krehnbrink and freshman Acey Calhoun set season best marks in the 200m.
Redshirt sophomore Clay Jones and redshirt junior Vibushan Sivakumaran also set season-high marks in the 800m run.
The star of the weekend’s competition was none other than junior Jonathan Addison. Addison recorded the best long jump of his collegiate career on day two of the meet. Addison flew for a 7.88m jump which earned him first place in the event.
Addison didn’t stop there, as the Raleigh native followed his stellar long jump performance with an equally impressive high jump mark. Addison’s high jump of more than 7 feet tied his earlier season-high mark which was good enough for the ACC’s best high jump this season.
The Wolfpack will be back in action this Friday as some athletes will compete in the Don Kirby Open in Albuquerque, New Mexico, while others will travel to Cleveland for the Spire Invitational.
