GoHeels Exclusive: Greene Makes History, Olympic Sport Notes

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

Nicole Greene stood inside the Eddie Smith Field House, proven yet unsatisfied.

As both a freshman and a sophomore at North Carolina, she had established herself as one of the country's 16 best women's high jumpers. But her most impressive showing at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, which came during her sophomore campaign, had only netted her fifth place and first-team All-America honors.

The Eddie Smith Field House's most distant wall, adorn with championship banners, served as a reminder of that elusive national title. Still, on that January day, just a few days before Greene opened her junior season with a personal-best jump of 6 feet, 2 inches (1.88 meters), she remained confident.

"I just know that something big is coming" she said then. "I just can't put my finger on it yet."

But Friday evening inside Texas A&M's Gilliam Indoor Stadium, the site of the 2018 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, that something finally transpired.

It took a seven-round jump-off. Yet in the end, Greene claimed the NCAA title in the women's high jump, becoming UNC's first national champion since 2007. She joined Sheena Gordon as the only women in school history to win an NCAA title in the event.

Greene began the competition by clearing the bar on her first attempts at 5-9 ¼ (1.76m) and 5-11 ¼ (1.81m). She then cleared 6-0 ½ (1.84m) and 6-1 ½ (1.87m) on her second attempts. Only Mississippi State's Logan Boss and Cincinnati's Loretta Blaut also cleared those heights, with Blaut matching Greene's performance and Boss needing three attempts to clear 6-1 ½ (1.87m).

All three missed the next height of 6-2 ¾ (1.90m). That eliminated Boss. But at the time, Greene thought her pursuit of a national title had also ended.

"I thought I got third," Greene said. "But when the (official) called me over, she said, 'You're tied for first so we have to do a jump-off.' I wasn't prepared to hear that. Then the marathon came."

The jump-off required Greene and Blaut to jump at consecutively lower bars until one cleared it and the other didn't. Neither cleared the bar on the first four heights of 6-2 ¾ (1.90m), 6-2 (1.88m), 6-1 ¼ (1.86m) or 6-0 ½ (1.84m). Each then cleared 5-11 ½ (1.82m), only to miss 6-0 ½ (1.84m) again.

Finally, with the bar back at 5-11 ½ (1.82m), Blaut missed. And on her 16th jump of the competition, Greene overcame fatigue and cleared the height, awarding her the national title.

She said she initially felt relief. But moments later, Greene, who also captured her first ACC championship in February, started thinking about the magnitude of her accomplishment.

"I said that I wanted to be an ACC champion, I said that I wanted to be a national champion," said Greene on Friday, "but I always said it with some type of doubt, as if it was still just a dream that I couldn't reach.

"I'll feel it more (Saturday), but it solidifies that I can do more than I think I can and just as much as I say I can."

Daniels' dominance on the mound
After dropping its first two games against Louisville by three total runs, the baseball team handed the Cardinals their first loss of the season, a 10-3 defeat on Sunday, behind a stellar relief appearance by Brett Daniels.

Daniels pitched a scoreless inning on both Friday and Saturday. But Sunday's outing overshadowed those performances, as he tossed 4 1/3 shutout innings to earn his second win of the season.

Across all three appearances, Daniels surrendered just three hits and struck out six batters. He also increased his scoreless innings streak, which dates back to the 10-0 win over High Point on Feb. 27, to 10 2/3. He currently boasts a 0.95 ERA.

Gymnastics team rebounds on uneven bars
Although the gymnastics team finished third in Friday's quad meet with Air Force, Arizona and San Jose State, the Tar Heels showed signs of improvement on the uneven bars.

In UNC's previous meet at Alabama, it registered a 47.875 on the uneven bars. That marked the team's lowest score in the event this season. But Friday, the Tar Heels bounced back, posting a rotation score of 48.175.

Madison Nettles received the team's top score on the uneven bars with a 9.675, which helped her take 13th place. Fellow seniors Morgan Lane and Kaitlynn Hedelund tied for 16th with scores of 9.650.

Cunningham's career day
Entering the men's lacrosse team's game at Hofstra on Saturday, Matt Cunningham, a senior who transferred to UNC from Loyola University of Maryland before his junior year, had scored only one goal as a Tar Heel.

But with UNC struggling offensively for most of the game, Cunningham doubled that total against the Pride, scoring two goals in a 12-6 loss.

With Hofstra leading 10-1 midway through the third period, Cunningham scored on an assist by Kyle Mathie. Cunningham struck again moments later, cutting the Pride's lead to 10-4 with an unassisted goal. But the Tar Heels couldn't pull any closer than six goals.

Moreno shines in first start
After the women's lacrosse team surrendered a season-high 17 goals in its 17-10 loss against Florida, redshirt freshman goalkeeper Taylor Moreno made her first career start at Virginia on Saturday. And she made the most of the opportunity.

Moreno played all 60 minutes and finished with a career-high 17 saves, steering fifth-ranked UNC to a 13-9 win in its ACC opener against the sixth-ranked Cavaliers.

Through Thursday's games, Virginia ranked eighth nationally in scoring offense, averaging 15.8 goals. The Cavaliers looked the part of an offensive juggernaut at times in the first half, outshooting the Tar Heels 22-14. But Moreno made 10 first-half saves to keep UNC's deficit at 6-4 entering halftime.

The Tar Heels opened the second half on a 5-1 run to seize the lead. And Moreno ensured they didn't relinquish it, surrendering just two more goals the rest of the way.

Rowing opens spring season
For the first time since the Head of the Hooch regatta on Nov. 4, the rowing team returned to racing Saturday at Lake Hartwell in Clemson, S.C.

Facing Duke and Clemson at the Carolina Cup, UNC took second overall, finishing with 81 points. The Blue Devils took first with 99 points and the Tigers finished third with 77 points.

Duke won all five races. The Tar Heels' best results came in the varsity four and second varsity four races, which they took second in. They also finished behind the Blue Devils in the two-boat third varsity eight race.

Wike shakes slump
Entering Wednesday's 12-2 win at Charlotte, Taylor Wike was batting .139 (5-for-36) over her last 12 games. But she appeared to return to form in the victory over the 49ers, going 3-for-4 with a career-high five RBIs.

Wike then carried over her momentum into the softball team's three-game weekend sweep of Duke. Although she finished 0-for-4 in Friday's 2-1 walk-off win over the Blue Devils, she went 3-for-5 with three RBIs, a home run and a triple during Saturday's doubleheader.

Behind her big week, Wike raised her season batting average from .254 to .292. She also increased her team-best RBI total to 15.

Freshmen seal men's tennis win
Participating in UNC-Duke rivalry for the first time, freshmen Benjamin Sigouin and Mac Kiger proved key in the men's tennis team's 4-3 victory in Durham on Saturday.

With the team score tied at 2, the Tar Heels held third-set leads on all three remaining courts. Kiger, who won his first set 6-3 but dropped the second 6-2, handed UNC a 3-2 lead when he closed out a 6-3 win in the third. But Duke's win on Court 3 put all eyes on Sigouin at Court 2.

Sigouin led Duke's Spencer Furman 5-2 in the third at the time. And already ahead 40-0, Sigouin's ensuing serve was returned into the net, clinching the win for the Tar Heels.

Sigouin and Kiger are now a combined 16-2 in singles this season.

Players Mentioned

Nicole Greene

Related Videos