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/Multi's
HM: Nathan Lau - Only thrower on the roster and no Decathletes either. Lau isn't particularly close the being competitive in the ACC yet but his best events in high school were the DIscus and Hammer Throw which aren't offered in Indoors so perhaps his best is in front of him this season.
Jumps
Jamar Davis - Will compete in Long Jump and Triple Jump. Coming off a 3rd place finish at ACC's in the Long Jump, and 5th in Triple Jump and 7th in Long Jump in ACC last outdoor season. His Triple Jumping has been pretty stagnant since he set his PB in 2019 so that will be a good goal for him just to push back to his PB level. In the Long jump i'd have to think getting into the upper 25' territory and competing hard for an ACC title would be the goals.
Cameron Murray - Primarily a hurdler, but he will also compete in the Long Jump where he finished 4th in the ACC this past indoor season. Had a ridiculous PB last outdoors that was the 5th best jump in school history at 25' 7.5" and is a bit of an outlier in his jumping career. His goal here would be to score again at ACC's, show he can consistently jump 25'+, and push as close to that 26' barrier as he can.
Kyzaiah Stone - Will focus on the High Jump. Probably a little disappointed with his ACC's even though he's a freshman. Came in with a 7' 0.5' PB from high school and wasn't able to improve upon it in indoors and struggled to a 6th place finish below 7' at ACC's. I think just getting a new PB is the goal for him even if its only by a half inch.
Von Douglas - Health status unclear as he only jumped once indoors back in january, but he will compete in Long Jump as well as some sprints. 6th best outdoors jump in school history at 25' 1.75". Finished 12th at the 2022 NCAA indoors meet. I'd love to see him push closer to that mid 25' or higher barrier as well as qualify for nationals again.
HM: William Sistruck - Will compete in the Long Jump and maybe not in the same tier as the first 3, but he was able to finish 9th at this past ACC Indoors meet. Boasts a 23' 11.75" Long Jump PB.
Sprints/Hurdles
Alex Lang - Will compete in the 100 primarily. He really levelled up this past indoors season. He had never qualified for a national meet prior to this year and not only did he qualify in the 60 this indoors but he finished 6th setting PB's almost every race. With the amount he PB'd in the 60, he could be in for a massive 100 PB as well. He comes in with a best of 10.36 and best finish of 8th in the ACC. With his improvement i definitely think 10.2's is on the cards but who knows how fast he can go. Would love to see him push for a podium finish at ACC's and qualifying for nationals again.
Josh Brockman - Will compete in the 110 hurdles. He's finished 4th and 5th at the last two ACC's in the 110H but hasn't had an all american finish so coming off his great 5th place finish at the 60H at NCAA indoors another all american finish will be on his radar. He's already the school record holder in this event outdoors with a 13.55 but knowing the Cameron Murray is coming for it he's surely looking to dip lower. With his improvement in the 60m Hurdles this year i hope 13.4's are in the cards.
Cameron Murray - Will compete in the 110 hurdles. Will be highly motivated after his disappointing finish to an incredible season. Set a new school record in the 60H indoors and qualified 5th seed for nationals but DNF'd at ACC's and didn't have his best prelim at NCAA's to not qualify for the finals. He has the 3rd fastest time at the 110H hurdles in school history with a 13.7 and training and competing with Brockman can only help his push to get lower. After lowering his own school record in the 60H this indoors, i think big things are on the cards. I'm hoping he can dip into the 13.5's for sure as well as improving on his 21st place finish at last years NCAA outdoor meet.
Von Douglas - Focuses on the Long Jump but also runs the 200. Has run a great 21.07 in the past. If he can push sub 21 that puts him in scoring/All ACC range which will be the goal if he runs it.
Alexander Nunley - Will run the 100 and 200 primarily but has dabbled in the occasional 400 in the past. Has PB's of 10.59 in the 100 and 21.17 in the 200. The 200 has a lot of potential to be competitive with his time already and i'd love to see him in the 21.0's and if he can threaten 21 flat this year that would be gravy. Would have him pushing for scoring/all acc range similar to Douglas.
HM: Alan Alvarez - On the roster on Gopack, but didnt run this past indoors so unsure of his status. He's been a consistent ACC qualifier the past few seasons in the 100/200 but isn't really a threat to score there yet. I think time goals are probably more of his focus if he runs, dipping under 10.5 in the 100 and under maybe 21.1 in the 200.
Distance
Ian Shanklin - He will compete in the 5k and 10k this season. It's his last season after a long respectable career with NC State with multiple all american finishes in Cross Country and multiple ACC titles on the track. I think he's past the point of having a time goal, though a new 10k PB could be in the cards for sure. He's looking to compete for another ACC title, probably in the 10k, and he's looking to score at nationals again probably in the 10k.
Ian Harrison - Will probably run the gamut from 1500-10k, but i expect the focus to be on either the 5k or 10k come ACC's and regionals. He's made massive improvements over the last 12 months and the future is very bright for him. His mile/1500 improved by ~4 seconds from last outdoors, his track 5k improved by ~20 seconds, and his 10k from nationals was ~20 seconds faster than his track 10k PB. The sky is the limit seemingly. If i had to set goals, i would start with qualification for nationals in whatever event he chooses to focus on. Timewise, i think he's in 3:44-45 shape in the 1500 so cropping a couple of seconds off that for a 3:42 ish would be fantastic and set him up for a sub 4 mile next indoors. In the 5k coming off a 13:35 indoors, a sub 13:30 could be on the cards. And in the 10k, i think he's figured it out after his great xc campaign so maybe a 29:30 is in the cards.
Brett Gardner - Will probably run a lot of 1500's and 5k's but end up focusing on the 3k steeplechase. Another guy who showed massive improvements the last 12 months. He improved his mile/1500 by 2-3 seconds, he ran a 15:48 in the 5k and finished an impressive 64th at nationals in a 10k. He dropped a 8:37 in the steeplechase last outdoors and with his improvements a sub 8:30 and a potential school record could be on the cards. I'd love to see him compete for an ACC title and qualify for nationals in the event. Any improvement on his 1500 and 5k times would be gravy considering they aren't the focus likely.
Gavin Gaynor - Will likely focus on the 1500 and 3k steeplechase. After redshirting indoors where he dropped a 3:57 mile unattached, he's clearly in good form. A sub 3:40 1500 could and maybe should be in the cards. I'd also look for his increased speed to push him closer to sub 8:40 in the steeplechase.
Robinson Snider - Similar to Harrison he'll probably run all between the 1500 and 10k. He's tended to focus on the 10k later in the season for ACC's and regionals. has continued improving last track season and in cross country before redshirting indoors due to a lack of eligibility. Comes in with a 13:49 5k and 29:59 10k. I'd expect him to push for a sub 13:40 5k and sub 29:40 10k.
David Vorbach - Will compete in the 5k and maybe dabble in the 10k. His sub 13:42 5k indoors sets him up well to chase a good time outdoors, conservatively 13:40, aggressively 13:35. I'd also like to see him potentially get top 15 at ACC outdoors in the 5k.
Zach Hughes - Will focus on the 800m. Wasn't able to improve upon his PB in the 800 last season, but he did run a new school record in the 1000m as well as a new PB in the mile. He's the current school record holder in the 800 outdoors with a 1:49.12. Given he wasn't able to improve in indoors, anything sub 1:49 would be a really good showing this season.
Kyle Durham - Will also focus on the 800m. Has never been the best indoors runner but this wasn't his best season other than setting a new PB in the mile. Has the 2nd fastest time in school history outdoors with a 1:49.52. Given his indoors season, a new PB should be the goal here. A sub 1:49 would be amazing.
HM: Dan McGoey & Patrick Gibbons - McGoey was consistently in the top 7 in Cross Country before getting injured and redshirting indoors. If he runs and is healthy a sub 14:00 5k should definitely be in the cards for him. Gibbons isn't really ready to be competitive at the ACC level as a true freshman, but while researching this i noticed that he improved his time in every single race he ran in indoors. Over the mile he lowered his time over 4 races from a 4:23 to a 4:17 to a 4:16 to a 4:13. And then he switched focus over the 800 where he came in with a high school PB of 1:57 and opened with a 1:53.6 and then ran a 1:52.6 at ACC's. With that kind of progression a sub 3:50 1500 and sub 1:52 800 could be in the cards.
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/Multi's
HM: Nathan Lau - Only thrower on the roster and no Decathletes either. Lau isn't particularly close the being competitive in the ACC yet but his best events in high school were the DIscus and Hammer Throw which aren't offered in Indoors so perhaps his best is in front of him this season.
Jumps
Jamar Davis - Will compete in Long Jump and Triple Jump. Coming off a 3rd place finish at ACC's in the Long Jump, and 5th in Triple Jump and 7th in Long Jump in ACC last outdoor season. His Triple Jumping has been pretty stagnant since he set his PB in 2019 so that will be a good goal for him just to push back to his PB level. In the Long jump i'd have to think getting into the upper 25' territory and competing hard for an ACC title would be the goals.
Cameron Murray - Primarily a hurdler, but he will also compete in the Long Jump where he finished 4th in the ACC this past indoor season. Had a ridiculous PB last outdoors that was the 5th best jump in school history at 25' 7.5" and is a bit of an outlier in his jumping career. His goal here would be to score again at ACC's, show he can consistently jump 25'+, and push as close to that 26' barrier as he can.
Kyzaiah Stone - Will focus on the High Jump. Probably a little disappointed with his ACC's even though he's a freshman. Came in with a 7' 0.5' PB from high school and wasn't able to improve upon it in indoors and struggled to a 6th place finish below 7' at ACC's. I think just getting a new PB is the goal for him even if its only by a half inch.
Von Douglas - Health status unclear as he only jumped once indoors back in january, but he will compete in Long Jump as well as some sprints. 6th best outdoors jump in school history at 25' 1.75". Finished 12th at the 2022 NCAA indoors meet. I'd love to see him push closer to that mid 25' or higher barrier as well as qualify for nationals again.
HM: William Sistruck - Will compete in the Long Jump and maybe not in the same tier as the first 3, but he was able to finish 9th at this past ACC Indoors meet. Boasts a 23' 11.75" Long Jump PB.
Sprints/Hurdles
Alex Lang - Will compete in the 100 primarily. He really levelled up this past indoors season. He had never qualified for a national meet prior to this year and not only did he qualify in the 60 this indoors but he finished 6th setting PB's almost every race. With the amount he PB'd in the 60, he could be in for a massive 100 PB as well. He comes in with a best of 10.36 and best finish of 8th in the ACC. With his improvement i definitely think 10.2's is on the cards but who knows how fast he can go. Would love to see him push for a podium finish at ACC's and qualifying for nationals again.
Josh Brockman - Will compete in the 110 hurdles. He's finished 4th and 5th at the last two ACC's in the 110H but hasn't had an all american finish so coming off his great 5th place finish at the 60H at NCAA indoors another all american finish will be on his radar. He's already the school record holder in this event outdoors with a 13.55 but knowing the Cameron Murray is coming for it he's surely looking to dip lower. With his improvement in the 60m Hurdles this year i hope 13.4's are in the cards.
Cameron Murray - Will compete in the 110 hurdles. Will be highly motivated after his disappointing finish to an incredible season. Set a new school record in the 60H indoors and qualified 5th seed for nationals but DNF'd at ACC's and didn't have his best prelim at NCAA's to not qualify for the finals. He has the 3rd fastest time at the 110H hurdles in school history with a 13.7 and training and competing with Brockman can only help his push to get lower. After lowering his own school record in the 60H this indoors, i think big things are on the cards. I'm hoping he can dip into the 13.5's for sure as well as improving on his 21st place finish at last years NCAA outdoor meet.
Von Douglas - Focuses on the Long Jump but also runs the 200. Has run a great 21.07 in the past. If he can push sub 21 that puts him in scoring/All ACC range which will be the goal if he runs it.
Alexander Nunley - Will run the 100 and 200 primarily but has dabbled in the occasional 400 in the past. Has PB's of 10.59 in the 100 and 21.17 in the 200. The 200 has a lot of potential to be competitive with his time already and i'd love to see him in the 21.0's and if he can threaten 21 flat this year that would be gravy. Would have him pushing for scoring/all acc range similar to Douglas.
HM: Alan Alvarez - On the roster on Gopack, but didnt run this past indoors so unsure of his status. He's been a consistent ACC qualifier the past few seasons in the 100/200 but isn't really a threat to score there yet. I think time goals are probably more of his focus if he runs, dipping under 10.5 in the 100 and under maybe 21.1 in the 200.
Distance
Ian Shanklin - He will compete in the 5k and 10k this season. It's his last season after a long respectable career with NC State with multiple all american finishes in Cross Country and multiple ACC titles on the track. I think he's past the point of having a time goal, though a new 10k PB could be in the cards for sure. He's looking to compete for another ACC title, probably in the 10k, and he's looking to score at nationals again probably in the 10k.
Ian Harrison - Will probably run the gamut from 1500-10k, but i expect the focus to be on either the 5k or 10k come ACC's and regionals. He's made massive improvements over the last 12 months and the future is very bright for him. His mile/1500 improved by ~4 seconds from last outdoors, his track 5k improved by ~20 seconds, and his 10k from nationals was ~20 seconds faster than his track 10k PB. The sky is the limit seemingly. If i had to set goals, i would start with qualification for nationals in whatever event he chooses to focus on. Timewise, i think he's in 3:44-45 shape in the 1500 so cropping a couple of seconds off that for a 3:42 ish would be fantastic and set him up for a sub 4 mile next indoors. In the 5k coming off a 13:35 indoors, a sub 13:30 could be on the cards. And in the 10k, i think he's figured it out after his great xc campaign so maybe a 29:30 is in the cards.
Brett Gardner - Will probably run a lot of 1500's and 5k's but end up focusing on the 3k steeplechase. Another guy who showed massive improvements the last 12 months. He improved his mile/1500 by 2-3 seconds, he ran a 15:48 in the 5k and finished an impressive 64th at nationals in a 10k. He dropped a 8:37 in the steeplechase last outdoors and with his improvements a sub 8:30 and a potential school record could be on the cards. I'd love to see him compete for an ACC title and qualify for nationals in the event. Any improvement on his 1500 and 5k times would be gravy considering they aren't the focus likely.
Gavin Gaynor - Will likely focus on the 1500 and 3k steeplechase. After redshirting indoors where he dropped a 3:57 mile unattached, he's clearly in good form. A sub 3:40 1500 could and maybe should be in the cards. I'd also look for his increased speed to push him closer to sub 8:40 in the steeplechase.
Robinson Snider - Similar to Harrison he'll probably run all between the 1500 and 10k. He's tended to focus on the 10k later in the season for ACC's and regionals. has continued improving last track season and in cross country before redshirting indoors due to a lack of eligibility. Comes in with a 13:49 5k and 29:59 10k. I'd expect him to push for a sub 13:40 5k and sub 29:40 10k.
David Vorbach - Will compete in the 5k and maybe dabble in the 10k. His sub 13:42 5k indoors sets him up well to chase a good time outdoors, conservatively 13:40, aggressively 13:35. I'd also like to see him potentially get top 15 at ACC outdoors in the 5k.
Zach Hughes - Will focus on the 800m. Wasn't able to improve upon his PB in the 800 last season, but he did run a new school record in the 1000m as well as a new PB in the mile. He's the current school record holder in the 800 outdoors with a 1:49.12. Given he wasn't able to improve in indoors, anything sub 1:49 would be a really good showing this season.
Kyle Durham - Will also focus on the 800m. Has never been the best indoors runner but this wasn't his best season other than setting a new PB in the mile. Has the 2nd fastest time in school history outdoors with a 1:49.52. Given his indoors season, a new PB should be the goal here. A sub 1:49 would be amazing.
HM: Dan McGoey & Patrick Gibbons - McGoey was consistently in the top 7 in Cross Country before getting injured and redshirting indoors. If he runs and is healthy a sub 14:00 5k should definitely be in the cards for him. Gibbons isn't really ready to be competitive at the ACC level as a true freshman, but while researching this i noticed that he improved his time in every single race he ran in indoors. Over the mile he lowered his time over 4 races from a 4:23 to a 4:17 to a 4:16 to a 4:13. And then he switched focus over the 800 where he came in with a high school PB of 1:57 and opened with a 1:53.6 and then ran a 1:52.6 at ACC's. With that kind of progression a sub 3:50 1500 and sub 1:52 800 could be in the cards.