University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
NCAA East Preliminary Round
Alowonle, Lipsey Punch Tickets to NCAA Championships
May 31, 2014 | Track & Field
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., - The University of North Carolina track and field teams have two new student-athletes heading to Eugene, Ore., after today's competition. RJ Alowonle and Javonte Lipsey both qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 400-meter hurdles.
Alowonle narrowly missed out on going to the NCAA Championships last year when he one place out of the top 12.
"I'm so proud of RJ and Javonte," North Carolina assistant coach Steve Rubin said. "This year he was determined to not leave anything to chance and hitting a PR today was a great exclamation point."
"RJ redeemed himself after having a bad race on the wrong day last year at the preliminary round," North Carolina head coach Harlis Meaders said. "He ran nearly a perfect race today."
"I first have to thank God," Alowonle said. "I am so unbelievably blessed with all the opportunities I have been given. It is such a great feeling to know that I am going to nationals! I was so close last year and I didn't want that to happen to me this year. I just trusted my race strategy and ran my race and it worked out."
Alowonle certainly sealed the deal by taking first in his heat and setting the fastest qualifying time of any competitor at 50.11, a new personal record. The next fastest competitor was almost a half second behind. Alowonle still ranks third on the all-time list for school history. Lipsey ranks fourth all-time on that list. He qualified for the final at 51.42 after hitting two hurdles. He finished third in his heat, which automatically qualified him for the NCAA Championships.
"Javonte had an incredible race going through eight hurdles and showed amazing toughness and desire to recover off of hitting the last two hurdles and grabbing that automatic qualifying spot," Rubin said. "In short: those guys got the job done and I couldn't be more proud."
"Javonte had a great race going and hit hurdle nine and went from first place in his heat to third," said Meaders. "Javonte is one of the strongest competitors we have on our team. It was his will and determination that pushed him into the final in Eugene."
That kind of determination and will is exactly what the coaches are looking for out of Devon Carter and Ceo Ways who both qualified to move on in their competition and will race tomorrow.
Carter set a new personal record in the men's 110-meter hurdles by posting a 13.91. That time ranks fourth all-time in school history and it was the first time for Carter to be below 14.00. Carter is scheduled to race again tomorrow at 7:05 p.m.
Ways finished with the sixth-fastest time of all qualifiers at 20.65. Ways is scheduled to run again tomorrow at 7:35 p.m. in the 200 and possibly run in the 4x400 at 9:25 p.m. along with Alowonle and Lipsey.
"I'm really proud of Devon who hit a big PR today to advance to the second round," Rubin said. "And Ceo who ran very strong in his first race back in five weeks to move into Saturday's final."
Emily Godwin took 21st overall in the women's high jump as a freshman. She cleared 5-9 ¾ (1.77 meters) on her last attempt, but couldn't get over 5-11 ¼ (1.81 meters), which would have surpassed her PR.
Cameron Overstreet, Caroline Brailsford and Amanda Benninghoff competed in the women's pole vault today. Overstreet, who made it to the NCAA Championships last year in a jump-off, finished in 22nd clearing 13-3 ½ (4.05 meters). Brailsford cleared 12-9 ½ (3.90 meters) and Benninghoff cleared 12-3 ½ (3.75 meters).
Steve Magnuson ran in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase where he took 35th overall at 9:07.59.
"It was very exciting to watch our kids compete today," Meaders said. "Our talented youth was obvious in the vault with Caroline and Amanda both making their debuts at the NCAA First Round. Although they did not advance they were fearless and competed very well and Cameron had a solid day. Emily Godwin did well in the high jump and Ceo did not have a great start in the 200, but he closed really well. Fortunately, he has been in some tough races already this year. That experience should help him tomorrow."
The NCAA East Preliminary Round will continue tomorrow with the last day of competition. A recap of results and performances will be available on Goheels.com at the conclusion of the meet.
Players Mentioned
