NC State Opens Action at Virginia Challenge

Friday, April 21

Charlottesville, Va.

All Day

NC State

Virginia Challenge

4/21/2017 10:21:00 PM | Track

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The NC State track and field team opened its weekend with the Virginia Challenge on Friday. The Pack earned several top-10 finishes and personal bests to highlight the opening day of the meet.

Jumps:
Javonne Antoine led NC State competitors with a big personal best in the triple jump. Antoine jumped 42'7.00" to beat her previous personal best by 1'3" and move to third all time in school history. Antoine's mark also vaults her to 20^th in the NCAA, 12^th in the East and second in the ACC. Amara Bell added a sixth-place finish with a leap of 40'2.75" in the event.

Throws:
Joshua Davis competed in the men's hammer throw invitational and took sixth overall with a throw of 218'4". The mark was just four inches away from his school record and personal best.

In the women's discus, Alyssa Dunn threw for a big personal best of 152'3" to finish ninth overall.

Decathlon:
After five events, Grant Rivers is currently 12^th in the decathlon standings with 3,468 points. Rivers cleared the high jump bar at 6'4.00" for his best finish of the day. He also took eighth in the long jump with a mark of 22'7.00" – good for an outdoor personal best. Rivers also set personal records in the 100m and 400m. He shaved nearly 0.30 off his 100m previous best with a time of 11.50 and ran a 53.73 in the 400m.

Rivers is on pace to break his decathlon personal best of 6,444 points and move up the all-time school records list, where he currently sits in 10^th place.

Sprints:
NC State sprinters kicked off action on the track, as Gabriele Cunningham took second in the women's 100m race for her third-straight top-three finish in the event this season. Cunningham crossed the finish line in 11.56, which was just .06 from her personal best.

In the men's race, Nyheim Hines added a wind-legal 100m personal best of 10.49 to finish fourth overall.

The men's 4x100 relay team continued to build on its season with a second-place finish in 39.82. The 4x100 team currently holds a season best of 39.77, which is ranked first in the ACC.

Mid-Distance/Distance:
Abdur Rahmaan Kelly took 24^th overall and sixth in his heat in the 800m with a time of 1:52.66.

Aaron Thomas finished 16^th in the men's steeplechase with a time of 9:12.23 and Bethany Neeley took 12^th in her heat and 24^th overall in 10:47.32 in the women's steeplechase.

Duke Invite:
The Pack also had several runners in action at the Duke Invitational. Joe Bistritz ran unattached and finished ninth overall with a time of 14:58.63. Zack Langston and Eric Walz finished 12^th and 13^th with times of 15:03.18 and 15:03.93 in respective order.