The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1487679
TRACKING THE PACK 14 ■ THE WOLFPACKER PACK PICTURE ■ Delivered And Signed Starting in 2017, the North Carolina Department of Transportation began placing highway road signs across the state to honor national team sports championships. For $2,000 per sign, schools or their booster organizations could purchase the familiar green signs seen alongside highways with white letterings. The first opportunity for NC State athletics to honor a team champion came last November, when the women's cross country squad traveled to Tallahassee, Fla., and scored a dominant triumph at the NCAA Champion- ships. For Wolfpack athletics, that was the first team title since the famous 1983 men's basketball team more commonly known as the Cardiac Pack. Schools can purchase up to eight signs to honor their champions. NC State athletics chose to buy five, with all being posted around the Triangle — four in Raleigh and one in Durham on I-40 West near the Page Road exit. About one year after that national title, the signs arrived and were erected at the chosen locations. Just in time, fate would have it, for a potential updating. Crews got the signs posted on Nov. 16. They are allowed to be planted for two years at their locations. Yet, three days after the commemorations were placed, the NC State women's cross country made them outdated. The Wolfpack repeated as NCAA champion on Nov. 19 in Stillwater, Okla. NC State's athletics department has options to choose from for what it wants to do next. In years past, North Carolina has purchased signs for a national title and simply chosen to update them, in essence doubling up on one sign. NC State could choose to go that route, updating the text to reflect the most recent title. Or the Pack could choose to put up another set of signage and honor both teams separately. Although NC State junior Katelyn Tuohy won the individual national cross country title in Stillwater, the signs are only for team championships, and thus Tuohy will not be recognized on them. Regardless, drivers across Raleigh will know all about the championship reign of NC State women's cross country in the early 2020s. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS