The Wolfpacker

80 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY BRUCE WINKWORTH W ith a balanced roster and grow- ing depth across the five event groups, NC State's women's track and field program enters the 2015-16 season hoping to continue its upward momentum of the last several years. Head coach Rollie Geiger and his staff have steadily built the Wolfpack's talent base through recruiting and coaching, bringing in talented athletes and working with them to develop and reach their po- tential. A heralded 2015 recruiting class should significantly boost the team's for- tunes, giving Geiger a guarded but optimis- tic outlook heading into this season. "We've built some numbers," Geiger said. "We have athletes who've improved from year to year. They've made All-ACC and qualified for regionals. "Now we need for them to qualify for the NCAA Championships and score points there." That last statement is easier said than done. One of Geiger's pet peeves is the scoring system for the NCAA Track and Field Championships. Only the top eight score in each event. As Geiger points out, a team could have the ninth-place finisher in every event, which would be a tremendous accomplishment, and not score a single point. "In swimming, they score the top 16 in each event," Geiger said. "Ninth place is a great finish, and our sport does not reward that. It doesn't make any sense. So what we're asking our athletes to do — score points at the national meet — is a tremen- dous challenge. "We understand that, but we don't back away from it. For the program to continue to improve, we have to take that next step — qualify for the NCAA Championships and score." The NC State women return five All- Americans from a year ago, including multi-sport standout Alexis Perry. The se- nior leader, who earned second-team All- America honors in the outdoor 100-me- ter hurdles and the indoor long jump last spring, is an eight-time All-ACC performer in the long jump and the 60- and 100-meter hurdles. She is the defending ACC cham- pion in the long jump indoors. "Alexis is a cornerstone athlete in this program," Geiger said. "Her improvement over the last three years has just been ter- rific. She's a national level athlete, in mul- tiple events. "Like Jonathan Addison with the men, she's a great student, a team leader. If you were going to draw up the model student- athlete, she and Jonathan would be exactly what you'd want. They're both just terrific." Fifth-year senior Nicole Chavis is a two-time All-American and three-time all-conference performer, and the school record-holder in the weight throw. She's also a former NCAA regional qualifier in the discus. Juniors Samantha George and Megan Moye plus sophomore Tiana Patillo ran with the Wolfpack's All-America indoor distance medley relay team a year ago. George is a three-time all-conference run- ner, including once in cross country in 2012 when she was ACC Rookie of the Year, and a 2015 regional qualifier in track in the outdoor 1,500 and 5,000 meters. Moye is a two-time regional qualifier in the outdoor 1,500 meters. In addition, senior SeQuoia Watkins was an All-American in the outdoor discus two years ago, and is a three-time regional qual- ifier and two-time national qualifier. That's a solid and broad-based founda- tion on which to build the program, but there's more. Junior sprinter Paisley Sim- mons is a six-time All-ACC runner in the indoor 60 and 200 meters, and the outdoor 100 and 200 meters. ■ PREVIEW WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD BUILDING DEPTH Newcomers Add To A Strong Foundation For NC State Last year, senior Alexis Perry won the ACC indoor long jump title and was second-team All- American in the outdoor 100-meter hurdles. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS

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