This week featured NC State track and field doing something it hasn’t done since mid-February: split its team across two meets. Such a situation occurred this weekend when NC State split its Wolfpack to compete in the UVA Challenge in Charlottesville, Virginia and the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville, Florida.

Redshirt senior Junpai Dowdy was one of the best runners for NC State in the Wolfpack’s first day in Florida, finishing seventh in the men’s 200-meter dash with a time of 21.35 seconds. Graduate Brandi Hughes had success in the hurdles too, finishing seventh in the women’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.96. Besides that however, NC State struggled to contend for a podium finish.

Meanwhile in Virginia, the Wolfpack found much more success. Graduate Elly Hines finished fifth in the women’s 1,500 meters with a personal-best time of 4:15.68. 

Junior Hannah Steelman had another week where she blazed past her competition, finishing in first place in the women’s 5,000 meters with a time of 15:30.87. It was Steelman’s second straight week setting the best time in the country, after doing the same in the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase in the Tobacco Road Challenge. Freshman Katelyn Tuohy finished close behind in third place, clocking in at 15:47.38.

Redshirt junior Ian Shanklin finished fourth in the men’s 5,000 meters with a time of 13:48.20, and graduate J.P. Flavin rounded out the day with a fifth-place finish in the men’s 10,000-meter invitational, finishing the race with a 29:03.80.

The second day of meets saw the Wolfpack dramatically improve its performances in Florida. In the women’s 100-meter preliminaries, sophomore Akira Rhodes finished third in her heat, finishing in 13.42 seconds. In the final, she would improve her time to 13.13 seconds, good enough for sixth place. 

Senior Michelle Cobb earned eighth place in the women’s triple jump, recording a jump of 12.66 meters. On the men’s side, graduate Cravont Charleston ran men’s 100 meters and earned a second place finish, finishing in 10.15 seconds.

The Wolfpack had no significant performances in its second day in Virginia, though sophomore Samantha Bush did finish in 25th in the women’s 800 meters with a personal-best time of 2:09.55.

Next up, the Wolfpack will see a slew of competition at the end of the month. The first meet the team will participate in is the West Coast Relays in Fresno, California, which will take place across Thursday, April 29 and Friday, April 30. Next up, the Wolfpack will return to Charlottesville, Virginia for the UVA Grand Prix, taking place across Friday, April 30 and Saturday, May 1. The final meet for the Wolfpack before the ACC Championships is the Duke Twilight in Durham taking place Sunday, May 2, concluding NC State’s regular season.