The NC State track & field team participated in the NCAA East Preliminary from May 25-29. Plenty of athletes saw action in multiple events, and nine athletes qualified for the NCAA Championships across five events.
Sprints
NC State’s men’s 4×100 meter relay team qualified for the championship by running a 39.24, a time that goes down as the eighth-fastest in program history. The team consisted of sophomore Henry Young, senior Von Douglas, redshirt senior Junpai Dowdy and junior Alan Alvarez. Their 39.24 was the best time for an NC State relay team this season, earning them the eighth spot in the event.
Sophomore Akira Rhodes ran her second best time of the season 13.07 in the women’s 100 meter hurdles, narrowly missing qualifications at 14th place.
Jumps
Sophomore Chris Alexander barely missed qualifying for the triple jump championship, placing 13th in the category. He finished with a 15.84 meter distance for the event. Alexander also participated in the long jump, recording a 7.16 meter jump, good for 30th of the day.
For the second straight year, Douglas participated in the long jump at the East Preliminary. Douglas recorded a 7.47 meter attempt, which won him the 16th spot, but was unable to qualify for championships.
Distance
Junior Hannah Steelman qualified for the championships in the women’s 3000 meter steeplechase. She finished with the sixth fastest time of the day with a 9:57.18 on Saturday. Junior Sarah Latour participated in the same event, finishing 26th with a 10:28.36
Sophomore Kelsey Chmiel qualified for championships on Thursday after a fantastic performance in the women’s 10,000 meter event. She placed eighth with a time of 33:52.21. She also ran the women’s 5,000 meter, in which she came in 15th place. Freshman Gionna Quarzo also participated in the 10,000 meter run, placing 13th but was unable to qualify in this event.
Graduate student Elly Henes and junior Savannah Shaw both qualified for championships in the 5,000 meter event and were in the top ten. Shaw ran a 15:56.52 time, which was enough to justify a fourth-overall finish on the day. Henes ran a 15:57.98 and her time made it to eighth place.
On the men’s side, two athletes participated in the 5000 meter event. Redshirt junior Ian Shanklin qualified for championships, finishing with a time of 13:48.77 which was good for 10th of the day. Redshirt senior Joe Bistritz finished 40th with a time of 14:23.79 out of a total of 48 runners.
The nine athletes that qualified will participate in their respective events at the NCAA Championships June 9-12 in Eugene, Oregon.
