Personal bests are the goal for the track and field teams as they prepare to compete in the Raleigh Relays this weekend. Teams from across the country are coming to Raleigh to participate in this annual event, and State is working toward high marks.

“I’d like to see everybody on the track get a [personal best] by a lot. That would be nice — for us to actually win more events since it is our home track,” junior sprinter Laila Thomas said.

Sprinting coach Terry Reese said the Raleigh Relays is an opportunity for improvement.

“It’s a gauge to see where we’re at and to see what we can do to get us to the point where we can compete with the best in the ACC and also nationally,” he said.

The Relays, which the Wolfpack host every year, draw schools from outside the ACC. Submissions this year include New York University, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt and Carnegie Mellon.

Thomas remembers previous Relays.

“I ran my first 100m race here, actually. It was longer than I expected,” Thomas said. “I worked here at the Raleigh Relays on Saturdays when I wasn’t doing any events. And it’s always fun to work here cause other people come out – professionals – just a lot of people come out and watch.”

Reese said the home atmosphere makes his athletes work harder.

“It gives them the opportunity to run in front of their peers, and that adds to the adrenaline rush,” Reese said. “They don’t want to be embarrassed at home, so they’re going to come with their A-game, so to speak.”

For freshman sprinter Reggie Reese, this year is not his first participating in the Relays, though it’s his first time on a college team.

“When I came to Raleigh Relays, I was in high school,” he said. “My relay team, we won, so we had fun. It was a good experience, because we got to run with college people.”

Though junior Mitchell Pope is going into the competition with high marks from last weekend’s 49er’s Invitational, he is still working to improve. The junior will compete in the shot put and hammer events.

“I’ve worked all over the place for this weekend,” Pope said. “I’m just trying to get my technique back to where it should be; it’s been off for a few weeks. That’s the main thing.”

To get his technique back, Pope has been practicing with a women’s shot put.

Thomas’ plans, on the other hand, do not include focusing on technique.

“In the high jump, my strategy is to just jump and not think too much about my technique and just go out there and do me,” Thomas said.

Throwing coach Tom Wood said at this time of the year, preparation and practice go into transitioning from indoor events to outdoor events. Reese also emphasized the importance of the work that goes into moving outside.

“We’re just now transitioning to the outdoor season, so there’s things that we need to do to equip them to handle the whole season as well as just getting them ready to compete at their best in their particular event,” Reese said.

Thomas said that outdoor events mean longer events.

“Indoor is shorter distances, and outdoor is longer, so for the transition we practice harder, longer than we did for indoor,” Thomas said. “Outdoor has more relays, so we focused on who’s going to be in the relay and practice hard to see who’s going to be placed in the relay.”

The Relays are one of the first major events of the outdoor season. Wood said his goals for this weekend are improvement and personal bests.

“I’d like to see my athletes compete well; I’d like to see them have a personal best,” Wood said. “It is one of the biggest meets on the East Coast, and it’s good to have good competition.”