NC State Athletics wrapped up its weekend in Gainesville, Fla. at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational on Saturday, April 16. The two-day competition saw a plethora of personal best performances from Pack members, as well as a rewrite of the history books.
Picking up on the success he left behind at the Duke Invitational a week ago, the Pack has been firing on all cylinders lately. Personal best times and performances continue to be surpassed week after week, with the record books suffering the same fate.
Wolfpack Athletics kicked off the weekend’s competition on Friday, April 15, posting a number of personal bests and a few top-10 performances in program history.
Starting with jumps, the Pack posted five personal best performances. Redshirt senior Mikieja Covington shook things up for NC State, recording a jump of 5.71 yards. Senior Timara Chapman followed closely with her PR performance of 5.65 meters. Junior Jirah Sidberry rounded out the women’s performances with her long jump of 6.12 meters, a personal best and the fifth highest score in program history for the event.
On the men’s side, senior Cameron Murray and rookie William Sistruck were the top PRs with jumps of 7.36 meters and 7.08 meters respectively.
In Friday’s 200-meter sprint action, senior Alan Alvarez clocked the fastest time of the day with his personal best of 21.25, and teammates’ times of 21.52 and the junior’s 21.44 Alexander Lang and rookie Alexander Nunley followed close behind respectively. Lang’s time was also a personal best while the Tom Jones Memorial marked Nunley’s first career 200m performance.
It was the women’s 200 meters that saw historic finishes for NC State’s track and field program, with runners improving on their all-time best 10 marks. Senior McKenzie Long lowered her personal best to 23.38, the third fastest in the history of the peloton, while her teammate, graduate student Jada Griffin, recorded the seventh fastest time in the record books with its 23.67.
Saturday’s hurdles competitions continued with the theme of the weekend, with grad student Brandi Hughes and junior Ally Henson posting two PR times and top-10 placings in the program’s history at the 100 female hurdle meters. Hughes’ 13.48 was good enough for the fifth-best time in the school record books with Henson’s 13.72 just behind her as the sixth-best time ever. Murray made his mark in the men’s 110-metre hurdles preliminaries with a time of 13.94, another personal best and the seventh-fastest time in the preliminaries.
In distance running, junior Caroline Lewis was the day’s top performer with her time of 2:16.48 in the women’s 800 metres.
When it comes to the field aspect of athletics, NC State has had plenty of individual success in that area as well. Sophomore Mahkayala Hart and senior Kayla Beasley led the way in the women’s hammer throw and women’s shot put, respectively. Hart recorded a throw of 47.40 yards while Beasley’s throw was 13.52 yards. Both distances were public relations with Beasley at the eighth highest mark in program history.
The men’s hammer throw also recorded two personal bests. Graduate student Andrew Haberman’s 60.96-meter throw was far enough for the third-farthest throw in program history with teammate, sophomore Lance Penegar, who himself landed a PR with a throw of 54.11 meters.