North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Opens Indoor Track & Field Season Saturday
1/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Track
Jan. 13, 2006
NC State opens its 2006 indoor track & field season Saturday at the UNC Opener in North Carolina's Eddie Smith Fieldhouse in Chapel Hill. Action begins at 10:00 a.m. The Wolfpack returns 13 student-athletes with NCAA postseason experience and head coach Rollie Geiger has his teams ready for another successful season.
Throws
Mitchell Pope and Chris Crawford both return for their junior season, leading the men's throws group. A NCAA provisional qualifier last year in the indoor shot put, Pope looks to not only score in that event at the ACC Championships this year, but in the weight throw as well. Crawford, who took sixth place in the weight throw at the ACC Championships last year, had 10th place finishes in the indoor shot put and the discus at ACCs. Newcomers Kent Dickens, Adam Gray, Jason Jones and Erik Raabe look to make some noise this year as well. On the women's side, NC State throws coach Tom Wood has senior Brie Ward positioned for a breakout season.
Jumps
Laila Thomas and Mattie Bethea return for the Wolfpack and look to continue their ascent in the high jump and long jump, as both athletes improved nearly every meet last year. Likewise, both pole vaulters from the women's squad are back for the Pack, as Tabitha Woodard and Teresa Reed aim to score at the ACC Championships. Newcomers Marilyn Angell, Christie Black, Shanelle Cross, and Jennifer Webster should contribute as well.
The men's indoor MVP last season, Michael Hill, is recovering from knee surgery to repair a torn ACL suffered during the offseason, and will most likely redshirt the season. While that leaves a large void for the Wolfpack in the triple jump and the high jump, jumps coach Gail Olson's cupboard isn't completely bare. Long jumper Dexter Adams provisionally qualified for both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships and just missed All-ACC honors as a freshman. Newcomers Jamar Dawson, David Groseclose and Ryan Sides also bring a great deal of talent to the table.
Sprints
Two-time All-American and four-time ACC Champion Ebony Foster returns for her final season at NC State and looks to make up for lost time as she was forced to redshirt the indoor season last year with a broken foot. The school record holder in both the 60m hurdles and the 100m hurdles, Foster also looks to parlay past relay team success with Joya Rogers into more ACC accolades. Rogers has her sights set on an all-conference finish in the 60m at ACC Indoors next month. Foster and Rogers will be pushed by speedy sophomores Tajaron Lewis and Cassandra Williams, as well as talented newcomers Alicia Davis, Julianna Pitts, Megan Rumley, and Laura Strother.
Sprints coach Terry Reese will look to senior Omar Wells and junior Matt Minnick to lead the men's group. Along with Armand Quenum, Kevin Hutton and LT Dickens, NC State has added strength and experience in the sprints department and will also benefit from the services of heralded newcomers Ben Barrett, Sabian Culbreth, Steve Gardner, Reggie Reese, T.J. Sheppard and Christopher Webley.
Distance
Wesley Smith, Bobby Mack and Chris Kollar lead a seasoned bunch of distance runners on the men's side. Smith scored in both the 3,000m and 5,000m at last year's ACC Indoor Championships and then qualified and competed in the 5K at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Mack scored in the 10,000m at the 2004 ACC Championships and competed in the 5K at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Kollar earned All-ACC honors in the mile and regionally qualified in the 1,500m. Geiger has a full barn of talent that should find its fair share of success this season. John Crews, Stephen Furst, Lance Hall, John Henderson, Matt Kassouf, Sajid Reshamwala, Nick Rixxon, Bryce Ruiz, Phillip Stafford all return for the Wolfpack distance corps, while newcomers Robert Bedsole, Gavin Coombs, John Martinez, Fredy Torres and Tibor Vegh add quality depth.
Assistant coach Laurie Henes has a very talented distance group on the women's side as well. All-Americans Julia Lucas and Jemissa Hess, NCAA Championship qualifier Kristina Roth and regional qualifiers Magin Kebert, Angelina Blackmon and Ginger Wheeler headline a distance squad destined for greatness. Lucas scored in both the 3,000m and the distance medley relay last year at ACC Indoors before winning the ACC Championship in the outdoor 5,000m and earning All-ACC honors in the 1,500m. She regionally qualified in both, nationally qualified in the 5K, earned All-America honors with a eighth place finish at the NCAA Championships and then competed in the USA Championships.
Hess transferred to NC State this year from High Point, where she won six Big South Championships, Big South Indoor Performer of the Year honors and All-America credentials for a fifth place in the mile at NCAA Indoors. Roth scored in the 3,000m at ACC Indoors and the steeplechase at ACC Outdoors, regionally qualifying and then took third in the steeple at regionals to qualify for the NCAA Championships last year. Jennifer Boyd, Kelly Brown, Abigail Nelkie, Chapin Payne, Michele Popple, Ashley Seaton, Lee Ann Wheatley and Jessie Yester are all back for the Pack, plus newcomers Danielle Boucher, Elena Helmerick, Amy Kelly, Jessica Popple and Brittany Tinsley round out a force to be reckoned with this year in the ACC.
After the UNC Opener this Saturday, NC State travels to Johnson City, Tenn., for East Tennessee State's NISWONGER Invitational on Jan. 21. The Wolfpack returns to Chapel Hill for the first of three straight weekends at North Carolina, Jan. 27-28, for the UNC Fast Times Meet. On Feb. 4 most of the team will compete in the Carolina Invitational, while a few will travel to New York for the New Balance Collegiate Invitational at the historic New York Armory. The Wolfpack will split up again the weekend of Feb. 10-11, with some going to the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., and others heading back to Chapel Hill for the Carolina Classic. The following weekend, Feb. 17-18, NC State will travel to Blacksburg, Va., for the Virginia Tech Challenge and then the Wolfpack will return to Blacksburg for the ACC Championships Feb. 23-25. Last chance meets to qualify for the NCAA Championships will take NC State to various meets on March 1, including those held by Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Iowa State. The indoor season concludes March 9-11 with the NCAA Championships, held at the University of Arkansas.
