The Wolfpacker

January 2015

The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports

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58 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY BRUCE WINKWORTH W ith a balanced lineup featuring potential scorers all across the roster, NC State enters the 2015 women's track and field season looking to build on the momentum of the last two years. After finishing 12th, eighth and eighth outdoors in a 12-team conference from 2010-12, the Wolfpack jumped to third in 2013, then finished fifth a year ago when the conference expanded to 15 teams. That marked the first back-to-back finishes of fifth or higher in the ACC for the State women since 2004-05. "We were fifth in the conference on the women's side last year, and with 15 teams in the conference now, it's a lot more challeng- ing than it used to be," NC State head coach Rollie Geiger said. "Fifth is pretty good in this league." NC State traditionally has relied heav- ily on the distance and throwing events for points, and those two again will be bellweth- ers — especially the throws. Nicole Chavis set a school record indoors in the weight throw last February to finish sixth and take first-team All-America honors in that event. Tremanisha Taylor's 12th-place finish at indoor nationals earned her second- team All-America honors. She followed that by winning the ACC championship and the prestigious Penn Relays in the spring. Se- Quoia Watkins made it a trio of All-Amer- ican throwers by finishing 10th outdoors at nationals in the discus, earning second-team All-America honors and becoming the first Wolfpack woman so honored in the discus. Taylor is a fifth-year senior in 2015, while Chavis and Watkins are fourth-year juniors, giving the NC State women three talented, experienced and successful performers in the primary throwing events. True freshman Younique Morgan was a state champion in Virginia, but thanks to the Wolfpack's depth she could end up redshirting. "With Nicole scoring at nationals, Trem winning the ACC championship in the shot put outdoors and SeQuoia finishing 10th in the nation in the discus, that gives us a really strong base in the throws heading into the season," Geiger said. "We'll see about You- nique. She's definitely got a chance to help us, but the decision whether or not to redshirt her will depend on her progress." The distance events have been NC State's other program cornerstone, and with the women's cross country team coming off a 16th-place national finish in November, those events figure to be strong once again. ■ PREVIEW WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD Redshirt junior Nicole Chavis earned first-team All-America accolades in the weight throw with a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships last year. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS Maintaining Momentum Wolfpack Aims For Third Consecutive Top-Five ACC Finish

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