University of North Carolina Athletics
Shunk Named Indoor High Jump National Champion
June 3, 2003 | Track & Field
June 3, 2003
University of North Carolina senior Adam Shunk was declared the national champion in the men's high jump for the 2003 NCAA Indoor Championships as a result of the previous winner being ruled ineligible by the NCAA.
UNC was informed of the change in a letter to head coach Dennis Craddock. The indoor national championship was held March 15-16 at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark.
The additional two points added to the UNC team score jumps the Tar Heels from 28th place to a tie for 21st with 10 points.
Shunk, a native of Muncie, Ind., cleared 7 feet, two and one-half inches and placed second behind Cal-State Northridge's Jerrick Holmes, who jumped 7-3 3/4.
Holmes was one of three student-athletes from that meet who have been declared ineligible by the NCAA.
Shunk was second at the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championships and fifth at the 2002 NCAA Indoor Championships. He transferred to UNC from Ball State, where he earned a fourth-place finish at the 2000 NCAA outdoor meet.
Shunk is the second Tar Heel to win an NCAA high jump title. Eric Bishop won the outdoor title in 1996 and the indoor crown a year later.
Shunk is the sixth Tar Heel male athlete to win an individual NCAA track and field championship and the first since Bishop in '97.
"It's rewarding for Adam," says UNC head coach Dennis Craddock. "He was leading the competition until the very last jump. I don't know why (Holmes) was disqualified, but if he was ineligible then he shouldn't have been in the competition and Adam is the rightful champion. I am happy for Adam and our program. He is our second high jump champion in recent years. Adam had been runner-up before this, so this is great for his senior year. I am confident he will perform well again next week at the outdoor national championship."
