Even though indoors just ended, the outdoor track season is already starting this weekend (though dont expect many of our athletes to participate this weekend, most will open in 2 weeks when NC State hosts the Raleigh Relays). I also am bored tonight biding my time until the tournament starts.
For indoors i did a breakdown event by event of our athletes but i since we still dont know redshirt/injury situations for many athletes that missed much of indoors i'm going to feed into the guessing game part of this and try guess at events the athletes will run and also give a time goal that i have in mind for them if they do that event. Too many athletes and long term redshirts to do everyone so i'm going to focus on the athletes that have the ability to make some noise at the ACC level at least. Can't wait to be embarrassed at how wrong i am come June. Going to go by groups, so some athletes may be listed under multiple sections if they compete in both.
Throws/Multis
Makala Wright - Will compete in the Hammer Throw. She's improved constantly since arriving on campus. She threw the 6th best Hammer Throw in school history (170' 9")in her freshman outdoor campaign last season which was good enough to help her finish 9th at the ACC outdoor track championships. Considering she improved about 7 feet this indoors season in the Weight Throw from her freshman campaign, I don't think pushing towards 180' is out of the question, but a more realistic goal may be aiming for the 176/177' range and hoping to score at ACC's.
Mahkayla Hart - Will compete in the Hammer Throw and Shotput. She's also been improving consistently since arriving on campus, She finished 21st at ACC's last outdoor season at the Hammer throw, and then improved her PB's in the weight throw by about 5 feet and Shotput by about 3 feet from her freshman indoors campaign. A good goal for her in the Hammer Throw might be shooting for the 160' barrier that would have her flirting with top 10 all time at NC State and a potential top 15 finish at ACC's. In the Shotput an improvement on her big PB from Indoors by even a foot or two would be awesome, so a goal of 47' could be obtainable and set her up for a potential top 15 finish at ACC's if she chose that route.
Sydney Freeman - She hasn't competed in an outdoors season for NC State yet but I would expect her to compete in the Shotput and Discus where she competed in high school. She threw a 43' 5" in the shotput in Indoors, so a goal of 45' could make sense this season. In the Discus she hasn't competed in the event in 2 years so its unclear where her improvement lies, but her HS PB was 107' so given the time gap and improvement elsewhere hopefully somewhere around 120' is obtainable.
Timara Chapman - Will focus on the Heptathlon, but as it isn't offered at many meets prior to ACC's she will compete in other events throughout the season, generally throws and sprints. Last spring she finished 2nd in the ACC in the heptathlon. She was on track for a solid Pentathlon at ACC's again this year before pulling out with injury before the last event. If she is back and healthy she should be competitive again and hope to be in line for another top finish and hopefully a title.
HM: Ta'Honny Exum & Clara Willard. Both redshirted indoors and may end up redshirting again but both have won multiple NC state titles at the high school level at the Shotput and Discus respectively so both could be fairly competitive at least amongst our team once they are ready to go.
Jumps
Jirah Sidberry - Will compete in the Long and Triple Jumps. One of the best jumpers in school history. Finished 5th in the ACC last year at the Triple Jump and 13th at the Long Jump. She set a new LJ PB during indoors with a 20' 8.5" so the 21' barrier would be the logical goal this outdoor season which would have her competitive for a conference title. Her TJ best is 42' 2" which is already competitive at the conference level, but more consistently jumping in the 42' range and maybe pushing as close to 43' as she can would be a good goal. Who knows an ACC title could come out of those goals.
Zahra Bichara - Will compete in the Long Jump. Saw significant improvement from her freshman campaign this past indoors season. She never broke 17' 10" in either season last year in the long jump but she jumped 18' 6" this indoors. A push as close as she can get to 19' would be a great goal and set her up for a potential top 15 finish at ACC outdoors.
Sprints
Mia D'Ambrosio - Tough to say with her as she hasn't raced since 2021 outdoors but she is still listed on the roster. Just assuming she runs she would be the best sprinter on the team outside of maybe Timara Chapman, and would compete in the 100-400. With the long layoff and not having the best of freshman seasons, getting back to her high school PB's would be a big win. She ran 11.89 for 100, 23.54 for 200 and 55.52 for 400 which are all better than her college PB's from her freshman year. Assuming she is still on the team and will race it would be great to see her round back into form.
HM: Akira Rhodes - Similar to D'Ambrosio, biggest thing is unclear if she will run but she is still listed on the roster. Also hasn't raced since 2021, but when she was running she was competitive within the ACC at the 100 hurdles.
Distance
Katelyn Tuohy - No introduction needed. She'll run whatever events she wants in an attempt to win another title or two and help her training for USA's later this summer. I wouldnt be surprised to see her go for a fast 1500 early in the season while she's riding her indoors form because i'd expect her training will be a lot more strength and endurance based with not as much speed work this season as she is preparing for a later peak for USA's. So i wouldnt be surprised if she chases a fast 1500 in a shot at the record then focuses on the 5k and potentially even races a 10k to test her strength. Not much else to say about her at this point so here are the relevant records she'll be chasing this season. 1500 collegiate record is 3:59.90 by Jenny Simpson. Tuohy's current PB is 4:06.49 which was en route to her indoors mile record a few weeks ago. This will be the harder one for her to chase. The 5k collegiate record is 15:07 by Jenny Simpson but Tuohy will be chasing the 15:00 barrier if not faster. I expect she is already in sub 15 shape. For fun the 10k school record is 32:36 if she does decide to do one.
Kelsey Chmiel - I expect she'll focus on the 10k as i think she has an NCAA title of her own finally in her sights but she'll run the 5k as well. She's currently with a 10k PB of 32:45 so less than 10 seconds off the school record and that would have had her 2nd in the 10k at NCAA's last year. She's also proven she's as good if not better than Mercy Chelangat of Alabama (whos the defending 10k champ) over the longer distances over this past year. I think she can be a sub 32:30 or 32:25 runner if its her focus this year, but the goal would be for a title if she focuses on this over the 5k. In the 5k seeing her finally under 15:25 would be cool.
Samantha Bush - She'll run the 1500 and 5k primarily but mix in a few 800's as well. She competed in the 800 and 5k at ACC's last year and finished 10th in the 5k at NCAA's. She boasts a 15:35 5k PB and a 4:13.5 1500 PB, both of which are competitive to score at NCAA's. Sub 15:30 and sub 4:10 are pipe dream goals but she's so proven and so talented i'm not sure why i would limit her ceiling. I'd also love to see her drop another 2:04 800 to prove that speed again as well.
Amaris Tyynismaa - She'll run the 1500/5k. She didn't have her best outdoors season last year as she didn't come that close to her PB's she set in the 2021 season, but those are really good PB's to be fair. 4:09 1500 and 15:33 5k. I think she can shoot for ~4:07 and sub 15:30 but more than times she'll shoot for better finishes at NCAA's. Only 1 all american finish on the track in her career so far isn't befitting of her talent level. she has the ability to push for top 4ish finishes in whichever of the races she chooses to focus on and i think a higher NCAA finish will be her goal.
Sydney Seymour - She'll end up focusing on the 5k, but she has dabbled in both the 1500 and 10k in the past, though the 5k definitely is her distance based on PB's. She comes in with a 15:34 PB and is coming off a 1st all american finish at NCAA Indoors. Sub 15:30 should be the goal and maybe another all american finish.
Allie Hays - I believe she has 1 season of outdoors left before she's out of eligibility and she's still listed on the roster. She'll run the 5k and 10k. She boasts a 15:33 5k PB and 33:15 10k PB as well as a 5th place finish at NCAA outdoors in the 10k in 2022. I'm sure she'd love sub 15:30 and sub 33:00, but id imagine with this being her last season that she'll be looking for a big NCAA finish, maybe another top 5 at 10k.
Grace Hartman - The strides she's made in her first official season of competition for NC State this past winter was great to watch. From a 4:39 mile to a 9:16 3k to a 2:09 800 split on the DMR. For reference (just a reference as you can't really compare improvement between runners as everyone is different) Samantha Bush was running 2:16 for 800 and 4:59 miles her freshman indoor season. I'd love to see her look for a ~4:16/4:17 range 1500 and having no idea what her 5k time is other than a 16:45 unattached race at Joe Piane back in September of last year. I'd say shoot for sub 16:00 on the track this year. Would be a great accomplishment.
Gionna Quarzo - She'll run the 5k/10k and probably focus on the 10k when acc's/regionals comes around hoping to qualify for nationals again in the 10k. she finished 16th at NCAA's last year and has a really solid 33:24 PB in the 10k. She'll probably hope to approach 33:10 this year and try to score at NCAA's. She PB'd this past indoors in the 5k with a 15:51 so a 15:45 goals seems difficult but not impossible.
Savannah Shaw - She made big strides in the 2022 outdoor season to post PB's 1500 and 5k which is what she will focus on again. she ran a 4:16 1500 and 15:33 5k last year before missing a lot of training with her injury last summer and fall. She's qualified for nationals in the 5k once in both Indoors and Outdoors in her career so that will likely be her focus again along with a sub 15:30, but she a 4:16 shows real speed so hopefully she can improve that by 2-3 seconds.
Brooke Rauber - I think she'll run 1500 and 3k steeplechase this spring. She was one of the best 2k steeplechasers in high school and i think would immediately be the best on our team at this event. She also has a 4:24 1500 from highschool which could and should be improved upon. She hasn't run track really yet for nc state (redshirted last year and only competed at 1 event this indoors) but with 1.5 years in the program at this point hopefully she can show off some new fitness level. Her improvement at the end of cross country was really positive. I'd love to see her shoot for low 4:20's in the 1500 and shoot for a sub 10 in the 3k steeplechase.
HM - Marlee Starliper and Nevada Mareno. No idea what their health status is at this point. But both have the potential to qualify for nationals in the 5k and 1500 respectively and have done so in the past. Big thing for them first is to get and stay healthy.
For indoors i did a breakdown event by event of our athletes but i since we still dont know redshirt/injury situations for many athletes that missed much of indoors i'm going to feed into the guessing game part of this and try guess at events the athletes will run and also give a time goal that i have in mind for them if they do that event. Too many athletes and long term redshirts to do everyone so i'm going to focus on the athletes that have the ability to make some noise at the ACC level at least. Can't wait to be embarrassed at how wrong i am come June. Going to go by groups, so some athletes may be listed under multiple sections if they compete in both.
Throws/Multis
Makala Wright - Will compete in the Hammer Throw. She's improved constantly since arriving on campus. She threw the 6th best Hammer Throw in school history (170' 9")in her freshman outdoor campaign last season which was good enough to help her finish 9th at the ACC outdoor track championships. Considering she improved about 7 feet this indoors season in the Weight Throw from her freshman campaign, I don't think pushing towards 180' is out of the question, but a more realistic goal may be aiming for the 176/177' range and hoping to score at ACC's.
Mahkayla Hart - Will compete in the Hammer Throw and Shotput. She's also been improving consistently since arriving on campus, She finished 21st at ACC's last outdoor season at the Hammer throw, and then improved her PB's in the weight throw by about 5 feet and Shotput by about 3 feet from her freshman indoors campaign. A good goal for her in the Hammer Throw might be shooting for the 160' barrier that would have her flirting with top 10 all time at NC State and a potential top 15 finish at ACC's. In the Shotput an improvement on her big PB from Indoors by even a foot or two would be awesome, so a goal of 47' could be obtainable and set her up for a potential top 15 finish at ACC's if she chose that route.
Sydney Freeman - She hasn't competed in an outdoors season for NC State yet but I would expect her to compete in the Shotput and Discus where she competed in high school. She threw a 43' 5" in the shotput in Indoors, so a goal of 45' could make sense this season. In the Discus she hasn't competed in the event in 2 years so its unclear where her improvement lies, but her HS PB was 107' so given the time gap and improvement elsewhere hopefully somewhere around 120' is obtainable.
Timara Chapman - Will focus on the Heptathlon, but as it isn't offered at many meets prior to ACC's she will compete in other events throughout the season, generally throws and sprints. Last spring she finished 2nd in the ACC in the heptathlon. She was on track for a solid Pentathlon at ACC's again this year before pulling out with injury before the last event. If she is back and healthy she should be competitive again and hope to be in line for another top finish and hopefully a title.
HM: Ta'Honny Exum & Clara Willard. Both redshirted indoors and may end up redshirting again but both have won multiple NC state titles at the high school level at the Shotput and Discus respectively so both could be fairly competitive at least amongst our team once they are ready to go.
Jumps
Jirah Sidberry - Will compete in the Long and Triple Jumps. One of the best jumpers in school history. Finished 5th in the ACC last year at the Triple Jump and 13th at the Long Jump. She set a new LJ PB during indoors with a 20' 8.5" so the 21' barrier would be the logical goal this outdoor season which would have her competitive for a conference title. Her TJ best is 42' 2" which is already competitive at the conference level, but more consistently jumping in the 42' range and maybe pushing as close to 43' as she can would be a good goal. Who knows an ACC title could come out of those goals.
Zahra Bichara - Will compete in the Long Jump. Saw significant improvement from her freshman campaign this past indoors season. She never broke 17' 10" in either season last year in the long jump but she jumped 18' 6" this indoors. A push as close as she can get to 19' would be a great goal and set her up for a potential top 15 finish at ACC outdoors.
Sprints
Mia D'Ambrosio - Tough to say with her as she hasn't raced since 2021 outdoors but she is still listed on the roster. Just assuming she runs she would be the best sprinter on the team outside of maybe Timara Chapman, and would compete in the 100-400. With the long layoff and not having the best of freshman seasons, getting back to her high school PB's would be a big win. She ran 11.89 for 100, 23.54 for 200 and 55.52 for 400 which are all better than her college PB's from her freshman year. Assuming she is still on the team and will race it would be great to see her round back into form.
HM: Akira Rhodes - Similar to D'Ambrosio, biggest thing is unclear if she will run but she is still listed on the roster. Also hasn't raced since 2021, but when she was running she was competitive within the ACC at the 100 hurdles.
Distance
Katelyn Tuohy - No introduction needed. She'll run whatever events she wants in an attempt to win another title or two and help her training for USA's later this summer. I wouldnt be surprised to see her go for a fast 1500 early in the season while she's riding her indoors form because i'd expect her training will be a lot more strength and endurance based with not as much speed work this season as she is preparing for a later peak for USA's. So i wouldnt be surprised if she chases a fast 1500 in a shot at the record then focuses on the 5k and potentially even races a 10k to test her strength. Not much else to say about her at this point so here are the relevant records she'll be chasing this season. 1500 collegiate record is 3:59.90 by Jenny Simpson. Tuohy's current PB is 4:06.49 which was en route to her indoors mile record a few weeks ago. This will be the harder one for her to chase. The 5k collegiate record is 15:07 by Jenny Simpson but Tuohy will be chasing the 15:00 barrier if not faster. I expect she is already in sub 15 shape. For fun the 10k school record is 32:36 if she does decide to do one.
Kelsey Chmiel - I expect she'll focus on the 10k as i think she has an NCAA title of her own finally in her sights but she'll run the 5k as well. She's currently with a 10k PB of 32:45 so less than 10 seconds off the school record and that would have had her 2nd in the 10k at NCAA's last year. She's also proven she's as good if not better than Mercy Chelangat of Alabama (whos the defending 10k champ) over the longer distances over this past year. I think she can be a sub 32:30 or 32:25 runner if its her focus this year, but the goal would be for a title if she focuses on this over the 5k. In the 5k seeing her finally under 15:25 would be cool.
Samantha Bush - She'll run the 1500 and 5k primarily but mix in a few 800's as well. She competed in the 800 and 5k at ACC's last year and finished 10th in the 5k at NCAA's. She boasts a 15:35 5k PB and a 4:13.5 1500 PB, both of which are competitive to score at NCAA's. Sub 15:30 and sub 4:10 are pipe dream goals but she's so proven and so talented i'm not sure why i would limit her ceiling. I'd also love to see her drop another 2:04 800 to prove that speed again as well.
Amaris Tyynismaa - She'll run the 1500/5k. She didn't have her best outdoors season last year as she didn't come that close to her PB's she set in the 2021 season, but those are really good PB's to be fair. 4:09 1500 and 15:33 5k. I think she can shoot for ~4:07 and sub 15:30 but more than times she'll shoot for better finishes at NCAA's. Only 1 all american finish on the track in her career so far isn't befitting of her talent level. she has the ability to push for top 4ish finishes in whichever of the races she chooses to focus on and i think a higher NCAA finish will be her goal.
Sydney Seymour - She'll end up focusing on the 5k, but she has dabbled in both the 1500 and 10k in the past, though the 5k definitely is her distance based on PB's. She comes in with a 15:34 PB and is coming off a 1st all american finish at NCAA Indoors. Sub 15:30 should be the goal and maybe another all american finish.
Allie Hays - I believe she has 1 season of outdoors left before she's out of eligibility and she's still listed on the roster. She'll run the 5k and 10k. She boasts a 15:33 5k PB and 33:15 10k PB as well as a 5th place finish at NCAA outdoors in the 10k in 2022. I'm sure she'd love sub 15:30 and sub 33:00, but id imagine with this being her last season that she'll be looking for a big NCAA finish, maybe another top 5 at 10k.
Grace Hartman - The strides she's made in her first official season of competition for NC State this past winter was great to watch. From a 4:39 mile to a 9:16 3k to a 2:09 800 split on the DMR. For reference (just a reference as you can't really compare improvement between runners as everyone is different) Samantha Bush was running 2:16 for 800 and 4:59 miles her freshman indoor season. I'd love to see her look for a ~4:16/4:17 range 1500 and having no idea what her 5k time is other than a 16:45 unattached race at Joe Piane back in September of last year. I'd say shoot for sub 16:00 on the track this year. Would be a great accomplishment.
Gionna Quarzo - She'll run the 5k/10k and probably focus on the 10k when acc's/regionals comes around hoping to qualify for nationals again in the 10k. she finished 16th at NCAA's last year and has a really solid 33:24 PB in the 10k. She'll probably hope to approach 33:10 this year and try to score at NCAA's. She PB'd this past indoors in the 5k with a 15:51 so a 15:45 goals seems difficult but not impossible.
Savannah Shaw - She made big strides in the 2022 outdoor season to post PB's 1500 and 5k which is what she will focus on again. she ran a 4:16 1500 and 15:33 5k last year before missing a lot of training with her injury last summer and fall. She's qualified for nationals in the 5k once in both Indoors and Outdoors in her career so that will likely be her focus again along with a sub 15:30, but she a 4:16 shows real speed so hopefully she can improve that by 2-3 seconds.
Brooke Rauber - I think she'll run 1500 and 3k steeplechase this spring. She was one of the best 2k steeplechasers in high school and i think would immediately be the best on our team at this event. She also has a 4:24 1500 from highschool which could and should be improved upon. She hasn't run track really yet for nc state (redshirted last year and only competed at 1 event this indoors) but with 1.5 years in the program at this point hopefully she can show off some new fitness level. Her improvement at the end of cross country was really positive. I'd love to see her shoot for low 4:20's in the 1500 and shoot for a sub 10 in the 3k steeplechase.
HM - Marlee Starliper and Nevada Mareno. No idea what their health status is at this point. But both have the potential to qualify for nationals in the 5k and 1500 respectively and have done so in the past. Big thing for them first is to get and stay healthy.
