NC State track and field rewrite record books at Tom Jones Memorial

NC State track and field wrapped up its weekend in Gainesville, Florida at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational on Saturday, April 16. The two-day competition saw a plethora of personal best performances from the members of the Pack, as well as some rewriting of the history books.

Picking up on the success it left off with at the Duke Invitational a week ago, the Pack has been firing on all cylinders as of late. Personal best times and performances continue to be topped week after week, with the record books suffering the same fate.

Wolfpack track and field kicked off the weekend competition on Friday, April 15, posting a number of personal records and a few top-10 performances in program history.

Kicking it off with jumps, the Pack posted five personal best performances. Redshirt senior Mikieja Covington got things going for NC State, recording a 5.71-meter long jump. Senior Timara Chapman followed closely behind with her PR performance of 5.65 meters. Junior Jirah Sidberry rounded out the women’s performances with her 6.12-meter long jump, a personal record, and the fifth-best mark in program history for the event.

On the men’s side of things, senior Cameron Murray and freshman William Sistruck were the PR performers with jumps of 7.36 meters and 7.08 meters respectively.

In Friday’s 200-meter sprint action, senior Alan Alvarez posted the best time of the day with his personal record time of 21.25, and his teammates' times of 21.52 and 21.44 from junior Alexander Lang and freshman Alexander Nunley respectively followed right behind. Lang’s time was a personal best as well while the Tom Jones Memorial marked the first 200-meter performance of Nunley’s career.

It was the women’s 200-meter that saw some historic finishes for NC State’s track and field program, with the runners improving on their already top 10 all-time marks. Senior McKenzie Long lowered her personal best time down to 23.38, the third-fastest in the Pack’s history, while her teammate, graduate student Jada Griffin, posted the seventh-fastest time in the record books with her 23.67.

Saturday’s hurdle competitions carried on with the theme of the weekend, with graduate student Brandi Hughes and junior Ally Henson posting a pair of PR times and top-10 finishes in program history in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Hughes’ 13.48 was good enough for the fifth-best time in the school’s record books with Henson’s 13.72 coming in right behind her at sixth-best all time. Murray pulled his weight in the men’s 110-meter hurdle prelims with a time of 13.94, another personal record and the seventh-fastest time in the prelims.

In distance running, junior Caroline Lewis was the big performer of the day with her time of 2:16.48 in the women’s 800-meter competition.

As far as the field aspect of track and field goes, NC State saw 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 registered a throw of 47.40 meters while Beasley’s throw measured at 13.52 meters. Both distances were PRs with Beasley’s coming in at the eighth-best mark in program history.

The men’s hammer throw saw a pair of personal records as well. Graduate student Andrew Haberman’s 60.96-meter throw was far enough for the third-farthest throw in program history with his teammate, sophomore Lance Penegar, who managed a PR himself with a throw of 54.11 meters.