The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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JULY 2017 ■ 149 Charleston said. "The swagger was back, and I was feeling myself." Charleston finished fifth (10.94) in the 100 at the 2014 4A state meet his sophomore year, with Cunningham coming in first (10.61). Fu- ture NC State relay teammate Nyheim Hines was second (10.77). Mallard Creek won the 400 relay with Charleston and Cunningham. The breakout sophomore year proved huge for Charleston moving forward. He eventu- ally went back out for football and started at cornerback while filling in for an injured teammate. His track career exploded his last two years amidst a strong rivalry. Charleston finished second to Greensboro (N.C.) Northwest Guilford's Daniel Estrada in the 2015 state meet in the 100, running a 10.47, and then came back to top Estrada to win the 100 in 10.38 seconds his senior year. He added a third-place in the 200 (21.78), and Mallard Creek won the 400 relay. Without the Cunningham's presence during his recruitment, he would probably be trying to set records at North Carolina, Charlotte or North Carolina A&T. "After I ran a 10.47 my junior year, I thought I could do this in college," Charleston said. "I stopped focusing on football as much and focused on track. "When NC State showed interest, I wanted to come because Quashawn and Gabby were here too." Charleston's freshman year was impres- sive, but didn't end as well as he had hoped. He had a minor tendon injury in his knee, which "slowed him" to a 10.41 100 meters at the NCAA East Regional. He finished 13th in the event with the top 12 moving on to the NCAA Championships. If he had known he was that close, he thinks he could have coaxed out a faster time. Now, he has another year to ponder what almost happened. Charleston's first order of business was making the U.S. team for the Pan American Junior Championships July 21-23 in Lima, Peru. The next important goal with NC State is to avenge his second-place showing (6.67) in the 60-meter dash at the ACC Indoor Champion- ships. FSU's Darryl Haraway just nipped him at the finish line. Charleston also wants to eliminate the "wind-aided" asterisk on his 10.07. His goal is to break the NC State school record of 10.02, set by Alvis Whitted in 1996, without the aid of Mother Nature. "The wind probably blew for like two sec- onds during the race, and then it went away," Charleston said. "I didn't feel anything in the blocks. Everybody else said, 'The flags weren't blowing.' To me, the wind wasn't blowing at all. I want to run 9.9 regardless of the wind." ■ Braswell Foods is a fourth generation family owned, vertically integrated company producing and marketing quality, value added feed and egg products for American families and businesses for over 45 years. Braswell Foods, one of the largest organic feed and egg producers in the United States, is very proud to be American Humane Certified by the American Humane Association, (the nation's original monitoring and labeling program) which ensures the humane care of farm animals; as well as, receiving the ISO 14001 Certification for its industry leadership as an environmental steward. Located in Nashville, North Carolina, Braswell Foods is the second largest EGG•LAND'S BEST franchisee in the United States, a licensee for Horizon Organic Eggs and a leading producer of value-added private label egg products for leading Retail Grocery companies. Our Family of Companies Include: Carolina Egg Companies, Inc * Glenwood Foods, LLC * Braswell Milling Co * Braswell Egg Company For more information please contact: Braswell Foods * 105 Cross Street * Nashville, NC 27856 * 252-459-2143 * www.braswellfoods.com SEPI is proud to support NC State and Wolfpack Athletics 1025 Wade Avenue | Raleigh, NC | 27605 | 919.789.9977 | sepiengineering.com | @SEPIengineers GO PACK! NCSU, Center for Technology and Innovation • Site/Civil Engineering • Land Development • Land Planning • Landscape Architecture • Roadway Design • Traffic Engineering • Water Resources • Environmental • Planning • Remediation • Surveying • Operations & Maintenance • Construction Engineering & Inspection Multi-disciplinary services under one roof: Mitch Craig, PE | Associate | Raleigh Site/Civil Department Manager BSCE, NCSU Class of '03 Sepideh Saidi, PE | President/CEO BSCE, NCSU Class of '93 BSAg.E, NCSU Class of '85 Photo by Nick Pironio, WALTER Magazine