The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/85079
TRACKING THE PACK ■ Red And White Notebook "Des" Kitchings Feb. 16 to fill the running backs coach position. Kitchings comes to Raleigh after spending last season as • NC State head football coach Tom O'Brien hired Desmond the running game coordinator/running backs coach at the Air Force Academy. "We are very fortunate to have Des Kitchings join our program," O'Brien said. "He will be a great addition to our staff 2008-10, serving as offensive coordinator in 2010. Kitchings was also the program's running game coordinator and co- special teams coordinator while on the Commodores' staff. Kitchings also coached tight ends and was the special teams Kitchings was the running backs coach at Vanderbilt from " coordinator at his alma mater, Furman, from 2004-07. A consensus All-Southern Conference selection as both a receiver and returner, Kitchings earned All-America honors as a return specialist in 1999 after leading the NCAA Division I-AA ranks in return average. Kitchings was selected by Kansas City in the 2000 NFL both on and off the field. Not only does he have great experi- ence as a coach, but he will also be an asset for us in recruiting because of his familiarity with and his ability to recruit the states of South Carolina and Georgia. ■ PACK PEOPLE swimming and diving program was ranked No. 23 in the country under first-year head coach Braden Holloway entering the ACC Championships Feb. 22 in Chris- tiansburg, Va. It is NC State's first appearance in the polls since the 2005-06 season. Boffa proved his freestyle abilities this year by swimming the second-fastest 200 in school history, the fourth-best 100 and sixth-quickest 50. He was also part of the 400-medley relay team that had the third-fastest time ever for NC State. Boffa was the only Wolfpack swimmer to be named ACC Performer of the Week this year. Jonathan Boffa, Men's Swimming Boffa, a sophomore from Verona, Italy, is one of the main reasons that the men's thy performance at the ACC Championship in Christiansburg, Va., Feb. 15-18. She blistered her leg in the 800 freestyle relay on day one, swimming her 200 split in 1:48.50, the second-fastest mark for that distance in school history. Freyman then swam the second-fastest NC State 50 ever on day two in the prelims before being disqualified in the finals. On day three she showed off her versatility, swimming the second-fastest 100 backstroke at State. She earned All-ACC honors on the final day, breaking the school record in the 100 freestyle with a time of 49.14, good for third in the finals. Hannah Freyman, Women's Swimming The Peoria, Ill., native capped off an impressive freshman season with a notewor- Draft, and spent four years on practice squads and rosters of various NFL teams. Kitchings, who is from Wagener, S.C., and his wife, Heather, have three children. • The Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game will open the 2012 college football season with NC State playing Tennessee on Friday, Aug. 31. The second game will pit Auburn against Clemson Sept. 1. The NC State-Tennessee game will be telecast Aug. 31 on ESPNU, and the Auburn-Clemson game will be telecast Sept. 1 on ABC or ESPN. Game times are yet to be determined. This marks the first time in college football history where two games of this magnitude have been hosted in the same facility by the same organizer on consecutive days. • The ACC will begin an 18-game conference schedule in 2012-13 in men's and women's basketball. The addition of Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the ACC has created one primary partner for each school with NC State partnering with Wake Forest. The partnership will preclude NC State from playing North Carolina or Duke twice a year every season. Other partners include Boston College and Syracuse; Clem- son and Georgia Tech; Duke and North Carolina; Florida State and Miami; Maryland and Pittsburgh; and Virginia and Virginia Tech. The scheduling model will be based on a three-year cycle for the Wolfpack indoor track and field team. The first came Feb. 3 in Blacksburg, Va., at the Virginia Tech Elite meet. That's when Hill became the first NC State runner to break the four-minute mile, running the distance in 3:58.33. In the process, Hill broke former All-American Jim Wilkins' 1973 school record. Eight days later, Hill unofficially broke the American collegiate record in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 7:43.08 at the Flotrack Husky Classic in Seattle. Since Hill's race was on an oversized track, his time was not officially recognized as a new record. Ryan Hill, Men's Track And Field The redshirt junior from Hickory, N.C., had two impressive runs in early February bang. Little, ranked No. 10 in the country at 141 pounds, is 32-9 overall, and finished a perfect 14 for 14 in dual meet action. He has gone 4-2 against ranked opponents, and entered the ACC Championships in Chapel Hill March 3 with 96 career vic- tories. His win total tied Little with Mike Lombardo for third place all-time at NC State. His 32 triumphs this year moved him into a tie with Sylvester Terkay's 1991 campaign for the most wins in a single season. Darrius Little, Wrestling Little, a fifth-year senior from Thomasville, N.C., is poised to end his career with a nast of the Week Feb. 15 after she scored 9.9 on both the beam and floor at the Sweetheart Invitational Feb. 11 in Raleigh, winning the floor by tying her career high in that event and taking second on the beam. Panza helped NC State win the meet that also included No. 10 Penn State. She was also one of three student-athletes at NC State and 42 overall in the ACC to be given the Weaver-James Corrigan Award, which is the conference's postgraduate scholarship. Jess Panza, Gymnastics The senior from New York was named the East Atlantic Gymnastics League Gym- during which teams will play every league opponent at least once, with the primary partners playing home and away an- nually while the other 12 rotate in groups of four: one year both home and away; one year at home only; and one year away only. The Atlantic and Coastal divisions will remain the same with Syracuse joining the Atlantic and Pitt joining the Coastal. The current primary crossover partners will remain consistent with Syracuse and Pitt becoming primary crossover partners with each other. The ACC will play a nine-game football conference schedule. The format will consist of each team playing all six in its divi- sion each year, plus its primary crossover partner each year and two rotating opponents from the opposite division. This six-year cycle allows each team to play each divisional oppo- nent and its primary crossover partner six times (three home and three away) while also playing each rotating crossover opponent two times (one home and one away). summer and fall playing on the ITF Futures Tour in India, Kuwait and his native Spain. Pulgar, who is from Madrid, won eight of his first nine matches since returning, his one loss coming to sixth-ranked Eric Quigley of Kentucky. Pulgar's strong start has earned him a spot in the ITA rankings, checking in at No. 100 on the list released Feb. 16. He is one of two tennis players on State's roster to be ranked. The other is freshman Austin Powell at No. 124. Jaime Pulgar, Men's Tennis State's top male tennis player is enjoying a triumphant return after spending the Emily Weiman, Softball NC State needed some immediate help at pitching, and the freshman from Pasadena, Md., is providing it. Softball coach Lisa Navas has turned the mound over to Weiman, who started six of the first eight games of the season. She completed five of those contests and gave up just 34 hits in 37 2/3 innings while striking out 49 batters. Weiman was the pitcher when State upset No. 10 Georgia Feb. 12. She struck out 12 in a complete game performance (seven innings), gave up four hits and two runs while helping State score a 3-2 victory. Weiman gave up just one run on two hits and struck out eight against No. 15 Texas A&M Feb. 17 in a 1-0 loss. MARCH 2012 ■ 19