North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Iyevbele Earns 1st Team All-America Honors
6/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Track
June 10, 2011
Drake's Championship Central
Men's Outdoor Championship info | Women's Outdoor Championship info
NCAA Online Streaming
Saturday's live results
DES MOINES, Iowa - NC State freshman Kenyetta Iyevbele of Charlotte, N.C., became the first Wolfpack runner, male or female, iin school history to earn All-America honors in the 800-meter run Friday evening at the rain-delayed NCAA Outdoor Championships at Drake Stadium.
Iyevbele's time of 2:05.74 was seventh overall in the finals on the wet track, just short of the school record she posted in Wednesday's semifinals.
The race, which was run after an hour-long lightning delay, capped an amazing first season for the Olympic High School graduate, who did not make the finals in her event at the ACC Championships in Durham last month, but finished with the best time among all conference runners and had the best finish of any ACC runner at the NCAA Championships in her event.
"This time last year she was running 2:14 in the 800," said assistant coach track coach and head women's cross country coach Laurie Henes. "To cut 10 seconds off her personal record, make the NCAA finals and earn first-team All-America honors is just amazing.
"That's something that really never, ever happens."
Iyevbele is the first true freshman from the Wolfpack women's team to win All-America honors since 1997, when Meredith Faircloth finished 11th in the 5,000-meter run. That was under different criteria, however, in which the top eight U.S.-native finishers earned All-American honors.
Beginning this year, for both men's and women's indoor and outdoor track, the top eight finishers, regardless of nationality, earn first-team All-America honors, with the next eight earning second-team honors and the final eight earning honorable-mentionable awards.
The Wolfpack will return to action Saturday, the final day of the four-day meet, when sophomore Ryan Hill of Hickory, N.C., and redshirt freshman Andrew Colley of Williamsburg, Va., run in the 5,000-meter race. Hill, a four-time All-American in cross country, indoor and outdoor track, was seventh in last year's 5,000 meters for his first outdoor All-American award.
Barring any similar weather delays, their race is slated to being at 2:21 p.m. (EST) and will be part of live national coverage on CBS from 1:30 until 3:30 p.m.
