The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1497827
TRACKING THE PACK MAY/JUNE 2023 ■ 17 PACK PERFORMERS JACOB COZART, BASEBALL In early April, Cozart was one of 45 players named to the midseason watch list for USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award, which goes to the nation's top amateur player. It was a well-deserved honor for the sopho- more catcher from High Point, N.C. Among players with more than 70 at-bats through 35 games, Cozart was leading the team with a .575 slugging percentage and was third with a .336 batting average. Among his 38 hits were a team-best 12 doubles, and he also had 5 home runs. Defensively, Cozart had compiled a .990 fielding percentage and had thrown out three runners on the basepaths. TRENT HIDLAY, WRESTLING Hidlay was NC State's top finisher at the NCAA Championships in March, placing fourth in the 184-pound class. The redshirt junior from Lewistown, Pa., went 4-2 at the tournament in Tulsa, Okla., includ- ing a 5-2 decision over Iowa State's Marcus Coleman in the consolation semifinals. Hidlay took Ohio State's Kaleb Romero to overtime in the third-place match but surrendered a takedown and fell 3-1. Neverthe- less, he earned All-America honors for the fourth time in his career and helped NC State finish 10th overall by supplying the Pack with 15 of its 48 team points. ALANA SMITH, WOMEN'S TENNIS Smith, a graduate student from Fort Washington, Md., was ranked 13th nationally and held a 21-5 re- cord in singles play heading into the ACC Tournament. Included in her win total were straight-set victories over Sabina Zeynalova of Texas and Elaine Chervinsky of Virginia, helping the seventh-ranked Wolfpack prevail over the No. 11 Longhorns and No. 9 Cavaliers. Smith and classmate Nell Miller were saluted on Se- nior Day against Virginia Tech on the final afternoon of the regular season. As part of their send-off, they teamed up for the first time ever in doubles play, but their match was halted in the first set when NC State clinched the team win with victories on two other courts. MAKALA WRIGHT, WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD Competing in mid-April at the Tom Jones Memo- rial in Gainesville, Fla., Wright set a school record in the hammer throw with a toss of 191 feet. Her throw topped the previous mark of 190 feet, 7 inches, which had been set by Lauren Evans in 2017. Wright, a junior from Clarendon, N.C., placed second in the hammer at the Florida meet. With her show- ing in Gainesville, she is building on a sophomore campaign in which she had a throw of 170-10 at the ACC Outdoor Championships. That performance was good for ninth place and was the sixth-best throw in school history to that point. — Matt Herb