University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Tiger Paw Invite Day 1
Tar Heels Head to Tiger Paw Invite and Music City Challenge
February 8, 2018 | Track & Field
CHAPEL HILL - The North Carolina track and field teams will split this weekend between the Music City Challenge in Nashville, Tenn., and the Tiger Paw Invite in Clemson, S.C., from Jan. 9-10.Â
MUSIC CITY CHALLENGE
The Music City Challenge gets underway from Vanderbilt University on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. The meet consisting of up to 27 teams and 750 student athletes will be contested on a 300-meter mondo SuperX720 track.Â
Caroline Alcorta, Morgan Ilse and Mitch Resor will all compete in the 5,000 meters on Friday night. The women's 5,000 meters is at 7:45 p.m., with the men's to follow at 8:05 p.m.
On Saturday, the meet resumes at 10 a.m. Natisha Dixon will be competing in the prelims of the women's 60-meter hurdles at 1 p.m., looking to qualify for the 2:40 p.m. finals. Erin Edmundson, Brodie Modini and Luke Peterson will compete in the mile - the women's heats begin at 2 p.m., with the men to follow at 2:20 p.m. Shortly after the mile, Cierra Dunston, McKinley McNeill and Jewel Christian will compete in the women's 400 meters at 3:10 p.m. Isaiah Palmer, Kenny Selmon, Ryan Saint-Germain, Jadon Johnson and Amari DeVaughn will then race in the men's 400 at 3:25 p.m. Blake Dodge will compete in the women's 800 at 3:40 p.m.
The day will conclude with the 4x400 squads looking to push their times into national qualifying range - the women's heats begin at 4:40 p.m., with the men to follow at 5 p.m.
"I think it's going to be a great opportunity for both of our relays to run faster times and hopefully move up on the NCAA ranking," head coach Harlis Meaders said. "Of course they're only going to take the top 12 relay teams to the national championships, and right now we are on the cusp."
A full schedule of events, heat sheets and a link to live results are available at GoHeels.com.
TIGER PAW INVITE
The Tiger Paw Invite will take place on the campus of Clemson University beginning at noon on Friday. The meet features eight ACC teams (Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia and Virginia Tech), nine SEC teams (Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Texas A&M and South Carolina) and Southern California out of the Pac-12.
"The Clemson meet is shaping up to be an excellent meet," Meaders said. "You know that the competition is going to be really tough, and it will almost be an ACC preview with over half of the conference there."
This is the third of four trips the Tar Heels are making to the Clemson Indoor Track & Field Complex, which features a banked 200-meter track. Several Tar Heels competed in the Clemson Invitational on Jan. 19-20, the whole team took to the facility for the Bob Pollock Invitational on Jan. 26-27, and the Tar Heels will return for the 2018 ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships from Feb. 22-24.
On Friday, Carolina has student-athletes entered in the men's long jump (2:30 p.m.), the women's shot put (2:30 p.m.), the women's pole vault (2:30 p.m.), the women's long jump (4:30 p.m.), the men's 60 meters (2:15Â p.m. prelims, 5Â p.m. semi-final, 6:55Â p.m. final), the men's 5,000 meters (3:15 p.m.), the women's mile (3:55 p.m.) and the men's mile (4:35 p.m.).
Saturday, Tar Heels will compete in the women's weight throw (11 a.m.), the men's triple jump (11 a.m.), the men's pole vault (12 p.m.), the women's triple jump (1:30 p.m.), the women's 800 meters (12 p.m.), the men's 800 meters (12:20 p.m.) and the men's 200 meters (1:20 p.m.)
A full schedule of events, heat sheets and a link to live results are available at GoHeels.com.
LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, many Tar Heels had the weekend to rest after three weekends of competition, but several Tar Heels that did compete had impressive performances.Â
In the Art & Linda Maillet UNC Open, redshirt-sophomore Draven Crist set a personal best in the high jump for the first time since he was a freshman at Western Carolina in 2016. His final mark of 7-0 ¼ (2.14 meters) is also the first time he has ever eclipsed the seven-foot barrier. The jump is fifth best in the ACC this season and is top 40 in the country. It is also the first time a Tar Heel has jumped over seven feet in the high jump since Dylan Moore jumped 7-0 ¼ during the 2012 indoor season.
Junior Morgan Ilse and senior Caroline Alcorta competed in the Camel City Elite 3,000 meters and moved into the top-five all time in UNC history. Ilse's time of 9:12.18 ranks second in the ACC, 11th in the NCAA and fourth in UNC history. Alcorta's time of 9:12.61 is third in the ACC, 12th in the country and fifth in school history.
IN THE RANKINGS
Entering this weekend's meet, the Tar Heels own 14 times/marks that rank top five in the ACC and seven that rank in the top 25 in the country. Nicole Greene (high jump) and Anna Keefer (long jump) still own top marks in the ACC, and Greene's jump of 6-2 (1.88 meters) is the second-best jump in the country.Â
"This weekend's all about either moving up the national ranks, getting in the national ranks or qualifying for the ACC Championship," Meaders said. "Right now we've got a number of athletes that are qualified, but a couple of kids that haven't had a chance to run their primary events that are on the cusp, so we expect that we can get more kids qualified for that championship."
HOW TO FOLLOW
Follow @unctrack_field on Twitter and Instagram for live updates throughout the meet. UNC Track & Field is also on Facebook. A recap of performances and results will be posted on GoHeels.com following the conclusion of the meet.
Players Mentioned
