Wolfer79, if youd prefer to start an official thread or turn this into an official thread thats fine, just wanted to post a preview for those that are unfamiliar with the track programs at large. I'll be working on a mens post later tonight.
Wanted to start on the topic since some of the athletes are going to run a season opener in just a few weeks in Boston before taking a break again before the real season begins in earnest in January.
Many people on the forum have become familiar with NC State running over the past year or two due to the success of the women's cross country team and the individual success of Katelyn Tuohy in track and cross country. Thought i would give a quick preview of how our team shakes out in track and field. The way our roster is constructed, the team scoring aspect for us is still heavily carried by the distance running events, but we have some solid athletes in other events as well. Going to go through event by event with people i think could/should contribute a lot to us this year. You'll see some unique events in indoor track, where some meets will race a 300m, 600m, 1000m, etc., But i'm going to focus on the ones that are raced at ACC's and NCAA's.
60M- Unique to indoor track, we run the 60 meter dash instead of the traditional 100 meter dash. NC state does not have much depth here or across the sprints in general really, having graduated a few solid sprinters such as Jada Griffin. Mia D'Ambrosio did not race indoors or outdoors last year but is back on the gopack roster so i'm presuming she will run. She has run consistently solid times in the low 7.7's when she has raced this event in the past. Ally Henson has run this indoors in the past in a 7.77 but seems to have moved more towards the hurdles indoors.
200M - Gonna be a drop off here as the school record holder McKenzie Long has graduated. Mia D'Ambrosio has run a 24.56 indoors which is good enough to usually finish about middle of the pack at ACC's but not make the finals and score. Ally Henson has run a best of 24.83 here.
400M - Gonna be a drop off here as well as another school record holder has graduated here in Jada Griffin. Ally Henson and Mia D'Ambrosio have both dabbled and run in the 4 x400 relays whenever the team decides to field a team in that event. Nobody I would expect to compete to score at ACC's.
800M - This is where it gets interesting as to where coach Henes and the runners want to emphasize this season. Lots of women have experience and solid times here. Sam Bush doesn't run the 800 often, but her PB is only 2 seconds off the school record having run a 2:04.99 last season, and she is the school record holder indoors in the 1000M. Caroline Lewis also focuses here in track and has run 2:13 which is a solid enough time. There are a lot of other runners who aren't locked into a single event that have hit competitive times including Savannah Shaw at 2:10 and Brooke Rauber and Marlee Starliper at 2:12. Freshmen Olivia Haas, Hannah Gapes, and Grace Hartman have all run in the 2:12-2:13 range as well.
Mile - I don't think she'll end up running this at nationals, but obviously the best is Katelyn Tuohy, having posted a 1500m time last season of 4:06 that led the country. I would expect Sam Bush and Nevada Mareno to run this a lot this season. They both have PB's of 4:13 for the 1500m. Savannah Shaw has also run a 4:16 PB here. While i wouldn't expect Kelsey Chmiel to specialize here you have to mention that she holds the school indoor mile record with a 4:36 mile (roughly a 4:15 1500m).
3000M - Katelyn Tuohy is the big name here, having run an 8:54 school indoor record and her PB and finishing 2nd at Indoor Nationals in this event last season. Kelsey Chmiel was 7th in that race and has a 8:59 PB herself. Sam Bush was 6th in that race has run a 9:02 PB. Savannah Shaw is probably the other name to mention here with a 9:06 PB.
5000M - Once again, starting with Katelyn Tuohy, having finished 2nd in this race at NCAA indoors last year and with a 15:14 PB outdoors. However its actually Kelsey Chmiel that holds the current school indoor record with a 15:27 (which you have to think will be smashed by Tuohy and also broken this year by potentially multiple other runners). Per the Gopack roster, Allie Hays has 1 more year of track eligibility and is on the roster so im assuming she's running. she has a 15:33 Indoors PB in the 5k and tremendous experience. Sydney Seymour was 2nd last year at SEC indoors and has a 15:34 outdoors PB. Sam Bush and Savannah Shaw have tended to focus more on mid distance in Indoors historically but Shaw has a 15:33 PB outdoors and Bush has run a 15:35. Marlee Starliper also has unknown health status but she has run 15:36 outdoors.
60 Hurdles - Ally Henson is more competitive in the hurdle events than the straight sprints. She was 7th in the ACC indoors last year running an 8.39. Akira Rhodes was 4th in the ACC at the 2021 indoor meet with a 8.24 but did not run 2021-22 indoors or 2022 outdoors, but im assuming she is back since she is listed on the Gopack roster.
4x400 m relay - We did not contest this event at ACC's last year and were last in the race (11 teams ran) in 2021 indoors. Not an event we expect to be competitive in.
Distance Medley Relay - A very unique track event where each member of the team runs a different distance for their leg. Traditionally the event goes 1200 meter leg (3 laps of a standard track), 400 meter leg (1 lap), 800 meter leg (2 laps) and closed with a 1600 meter leg. NC State traditionally is strong in this event and won ACC Indoors in 2021 and were 3rd this past year in 2022. It just depends on who we want to run and how many other events they are already scheduled for. Tuohy did not run at ACC's last year in this event.
High Jump - I dont believe we have a specialized High Jumper on the roster. Nasheeda Facey has done it before jumping 1.55M, but is more focused on the long jump.
Pole Vault - I don't believe we have a pole vaulter on the roster.
Long Jump - Jirah Sidberry finished 12th at ACC indoors and 13th at ACC outdoors in the long jump last year and has a PB of 6.20 meters.
Triple Jump - Jirah Sidberry finished 3rd at ACC indoors and 5th at ACC outdoors last year in the triple jump and has a PB of 12.85 meters.
Shot Put - I don't expect us to have anyone too competitive here. We return Mahkayla Hart, with a 42'10" PB. Its more likely we have a new face step up. We have a redshirt freshman Sydney Freeman who had a 42'5" PB in high school. We also bring in true freshmen Ta'Honny Exum, 2022 NC 2A state shotput champion with a 42'5" PB and Morgan Glass with a 41'6" PB.
Weight Throw - the indoors replacement for the Discus, Javelin and Hammer Throw. Makala Wright has a 55'4" PB and was 9th in the ACC outdoors in the Hammer throw. Mahkayla hart has a 54'2" PB and was 16th at ACC indoors last year. We also are bringing in the NC 2A state discus champion in Clara Willard.
Pentathlon - The final event of indoors which consists of the 60m hurdles, the high jump, the shot put, the long jump and closing with the 800 meters. Timara Chapman is the school record holder in this event and is returning. She was 3rd in the ACC at Indoors last year and 2nd in the ACC at the heptathlon outdoors.
Wanted to start on the topic since some of the athletes are going to run a season opener in just a few weeks in Boston before taking a break again before the real season begins in earnest in January.
Many people on the forum have become familiar with NC State running over the past year or two due to the success of the women's cross country team and the individual success of Katelyn Tuohy in track and cross country. Thought i would give a quick preview of how our team shakes out in track and field. The way our roster is constructed, the team scoring aspect for us is still heavily carried by the distance running events, but we have some solid athletes in other events as well. Going to go through event by event with people i think could/should contribute a lot to us this year. You'll see some unique events in indoor track, where some meets will race a 300m, 600m, 1000m, etc., But i'm going to focus on the ones that are raced at ACC's and NCAA's.
60M- Unique to indoor track, we run the 60 meter dash instead of the traditional 100 meter dash. NC state does not have much depth here or across the sprints in general really, having graduated a few solid sprinters such as Jada Griffin. Mia D'Ambrosio did not race indoors or outdoors last year but is back on the gopack roster so i'm presuming she will run. She has run consistently solid times in the low 7.7's when she has raced this event in the past. Ally Henson has run this indoors in the past in a 7.77 but seems to have moved more towards the hurdles indoors.
200M - Gonna be a drop off here as the school record holder McKenzie Long has graduated. Mia D'Ambrosio has run a 24.56 indoors which is good enough to usually finish about middle of the pack at ACC's but not make the finals and score. Ally Henson has run a best of 24.83 here.
400M - Gonna be a drop off here as well as another school record holder has graduated here in Jada Griffin. Ally Henson and Mia D'Ambrosio have both dabbled and run in the 4 x400 relays whenever the team decides to field a team in that event. Nobody I would expect to compete to score at ACC's.
800M - This is where it gets interesting as to where coach Henes and the runners want to emphasize this season. Lots of women have experience and solid times here. Sam Bush doesn't run the 800 often, but her PB is only 2 seconds off the school record having run a 2:04.99 last season, and she is the school record holder indoors in the 1000M. Caroline Lewis also focuses here in track and has run 2:13 which is a solid enough time. There are a lot of other runners who aren't locked into a single event that have hit competitive times including Savannah Shaw at 2:10 and Brooke Rauber and Marlee Starliper at 2:12. Freshmen Olivia Haas, Hannah Gapes, and Grace Hartman have all run in the 2:12-2:13 range as well.
Mile - I don't think she'll end up running this at nationals, but obviously the best is Katelyn Tuohy, having posted a 1500m time last season of 4:06 that led the country. I would expect Sam Bush and Nevada Mareno to run this a lot this season. They both have PB's of 4:13 for the 1500m. Savannah Shaw has also run a 4:16 PB here. While i wouldn't expect Kelsey Chmiel to specialize here you have to mention that she holds the school indoor mile record with a 4:36 mile (roughly a 4:15 1500m).
3000M - Katelyn Tuohy is the big name here, having run an 8:54 school indoor record and her PB and finishing 2nd at Indoor Nationals in this event last season. Kelsey Chmiel was 7th in that race and has a 8:59 PB herself. Sam Bush was 6th in that race has run a 9:02 PB. Savannah Shaw is probably the other name to mention here with a 9:06 PB.
5000M - Once again, starting with Katelyn Tuohy, having finished 2nd in this race at NCAA indoors last year and with a 15:14 PB outdoors. However its actually Kelsey Chmiel that holds the current school indoor record with a 15:27 (which you have to think will be smashed by Tuohy and also broken this year by potentially multiple other runners). Per the Gopack roster, Allie Hays has 1 more year of track eligibility and is on the roster so im assuming she's running. she has a 15:33 Indoors PB in the 5k and tremendous experience. Sydney Seymour was 2nd last year at SEC indoors and has a 15:34 outdoors PB. Sam Bush and Savannah Shaw have tended to focus more on mid distance in Indoors historically but Shaw has a 15:33 PB outdoors and Bush has run a 15:35. Marlee Starliper also has unknown health status but she has run 15:36 outdoors.
60 Hurdles - Ally Henson is more competitive in the hurdle events than the straight sprints. She was 7th in the ACC indoors last year running an 8.39. Akira Rhodes was 4th in the ACC at the 2021 indoor meet with a 8.24 but did not run 2021-22 indoors or 2022 outdoors, but im assuming she is back since she is listed on the Gopack roster.
4x400 m relay - We did not contest this event at ACC's last year and were last in the race (11 teams ran) in 2021 indoors. Not an event we expect to be competitive in.
Distance Medley Relay - A very unique track event where each member of the team runs a different distance for their leg. Traditionally the event goes 1200 meter leg (3 laps of a standard track), 400 meter leg (1 lap), 800 meter leg (2 laps) and closed with a 1600 meter leg. NC State traditionally is strong in this event and won ACC Indoors in 2021 and were 3rd this past year in 2022. It just depends on who we want to run and how many other events they are already scheduled for. Tuohy did not run at ACC's last year in this event.
High Jump - I dont believe we have a specialized High Jumper on the roster. Nasheeda Facey has done it before jumping 1.55M, but is more focused on the long jump.
Pole Vault - I don't believe we have a pole vaulter on the roster.
Long Jump - Jirah Sidberry finished 12th at ACC indoors and 13th at ACC outdoors in the long jump last year and has a PB of 6.20 meters.
Triple Jump - Jirah Sidberry finished 3rd at ACC indoors and 5th at ACC outdoors last year in the triple jump and has a PB of 12.85 meters.
Shot Put - I don't expect us to have anyone too competitive here. We return Mahkayla Hart, with a 42'10" PB. Its more likely we have a new face step up. We have a redshirt freshman Sydney Freeman who had a 42'5" PB in high school. We also bring in true freshmen Ta'Honny Exum, 2022 NC 2A state shotput champion with a 42'5" PB and Morgan Glass with a 41'6" PB.
Weight Throw - the indoors replacement for the Discus, Javelin and Hammer Throw. Makala Wright has a 55'4" PB and was 9th in the ACC outdoors in the Hammer throw. Mahkayla hart has a 54'2" PB and was 16th at ACC indoors last year. We also are bringing in the NC 2A state discus champion in Clara Willard.
Pentathlon - The final event of indoors which consists of the 60m hurdles, the high jump, the shot put, the long jump and closing with the 800 meters. Timara Chapman is the school record holder in this event and is returning. She was 3rd in the ACC at Indoors last year and 2nd in the ACC at the heptathlon outdoors.