North Carolina State University Athletics
Iyevbele Wins Jr. Pan Am Title
7/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Track
July 23, 2011
MIRAMAR, Fla. – NC State’s Kenyetta Iyevbele of Charlotte capped her remarkable first season with the Wolfpack by winning the 800-meter race at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships Saturday evening at the Ansin Sports Complex.
Iyevbele edged Canadian junior champion Annie LeBlanc at the wire to win the race with a time of 2:06.27, followed by LeBlanc at 2:06.35.
The race went exactly as Iyevbele planned, as she stayed with the top three runners from the outset and won with a big kick at the end.
“I just wanted to go out and get a feel for the pace, to see if it would be a quicker pace or a slower pace,” Iyevbele said. “It started out pretty quick. I just wanted to stay with the pace. With about 200 meters to go, I started by kick, but she was ahead of me by a hair. I just sort of reached down for a little extra and I was able to pass here at the wire.
“I’m very, very excited about winning this race.”
It was the final race of Iyevbele’s freshman season, in which she earned first-team All-America honors with a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, and won the 800-meter title at the USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
“To be honest, I’m just speechless about what has happened to me in these last few months. I’m thankful for all of it.
“I’m really feeling like I’m living in a dream.”
Iyevbele will return to action this fall with the NC State women’s cross country team and next winter and spring with the indoor and outdoor track teams.
Pan American Junior Athletics Championships
Ansin Sports Complex
Miramar, Fla.
800-meter race
1. Iyevbele, Kenyetta 18 United States 2:06.27
2. LeBlanc, Annie 19 Canada 2:06.35
3. Levin, Samantha 18 United States 2:07.68
4. Francois, Rachel 18 Canada 2:08.38
5. Montague, Desreen 18 Jamaica 2:13.08
6. Gaskin, Sonia 16 Barbados 2:14.41
7. Pozas Jr., Alejandra 19 Mexico 2:16.13
8. Borelli, Mariana 18 Argentina 2:17.28
9. Claudio, Dominique 16 Haiti 2:20.29
