NC State track and field competed in the Virginia Challenge beginning on Thursday, April 20 and ending on Saturday, April 22. On Friday, April 21, another group of Wolfpack athletes competed at the Wake Forest Invite in Winston Salem. Throughout the weekend, the Pack notched three school records and 20 personal best marks.
Day one of the challenge was highlighted by graduate Timara Chapman’s strong performances in the first four events of the women’s heptathlon. Chapman took third place in the 100m hurdles, the shot put and the 200m. She also recorded a new personal best and captured fourth place in the high jump with her mark of 1.73m.
Chapman continued to dominate in the heptathlon on day two, grabbing a fourth place finish in both the javelin throw and the 800 and rounding out the contest with a third-place finish in the long jump. In total, she earned 5746 points, claimed second place in the multi-event competition and broke the NC State school record.
The red-and-white notched four additional top-10 finishes on day two of the Virginia Challenge, led by graduate Cam Murray’s first-place finish in the 100m. Murray, junior Isaiah Gadson and senior Henry Young set personal bests in the 100m prelims.
In the women’s triple jump, Senior Jirah Sidberry leapt an impressive 12.92m to capture another podium finish for the Pack. In the men’s event, graduate Jamar Davis took fifth place. Both Davis and sophomore William Sistruck set new personal bests in the event. NC State’s last top-10 finish at the Virginia Challenge on Friday came at the hands of freshman Katie Horne, who recorded a mark of 44.84m in the javelin throw to claim sixth place and break the Wolfpack record in the event.
At the Wake Forest Invite, the red-and-white managed to put 13 athletes in the top-10 of their respective events. Sophomore Amaris Tyynismaa was the Pack’s only first-place finisher in Winston Salem, setting a personal record with her time of 15:30.37 in the women’s 5000m. She was closely followed by senior Kelsey Chmiel, junior Katelyn Tuohy, graduate Savannah Shaw and junior Gionna Quarzo, who finished second, third, fifth and tenth, respectively.
Tuohy also competed in the 1500m, where she clocked in at 4:08.29 to take third place. Both senior Sam Bush and freshman Grace Hartman finished about ten seconds behind Tuohy, claiming ninth and tenth place.
Graduate Gavin Gaynor stole the show on the men’s side of competition at Wake Forest, setting a new school record with his 1:48.59 performance in the 800m. Junior Zach Hughes came in just under one second behind Gaynor to capture sixth place.
The Wolfpack wrapped up competition at the Virginia Challenge on Saturday, as Sidberry took first place in the women’s long jump to end the action-packed weekend with a bang. In the men’s long jump, Sistruck, Davis and graduate Von Douglas all finished in the top 10. Freshman Kyzaiah Stone and senior Ally Henson also notched top-10 finishes, with Stone taking fifth in the men’s long jump and Henson placing ninth in the women’s 100m hurdles.
The Pack will be back in action on Thursday, April 27, competing at the Penn Relays.
