Tar Heels To Compete In Hurricane Collegiate Invitational Saturday

Saturday, April 14

Coral Gables, Fla.

9 A.M.

North Carolina

Hurricane Collegiate Invitational

Zay Paschall will be competing in the triple jump Saturday.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

Tar Heels To Compete In Hurricane Collegiate Invitational Saturday

April 13, 2018 | Track & Field

Watch (12:30 p.m.)Live Results Schedule Heat Sheets

By: Matt Hodgin

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - The University of North Carolina track and field teams travel to Cobb Stadium on the campus of the University of Miami Saturday for the Hurricane Collegiate Invitational. Competition is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. with the men's high jump, javelin and hammer throw. Track events will begin at 12:43 p.m. with the women's 4x100 relay.

The Tar Heels are sending 31 athletes and four relays teams to take on athletes from nationally ranked LSU (Men - No. 10, Women - No. 5) as well as Miami (F.L.) out of the ACC and Bethune-Cookman, Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic and FIU.

Cobb Stadium is the host site of the 2018 ACC Outdoor Track & Field Championships May 10-12, making this weekend's meet an excellent opportunity for Carolina to gain familiarity with the facility ahead of the championships. This will be the Tar Heels' second of four trips to the sunshine state, first competing at the UCF Black & Gold Challenge to kick off the outdoor season and returning to the state one final time for the East Preliminary Round in Tampa, Fla. May 23-26.

Coming off of the Battle of the Blues, where the Tar Heels racked up 22 personal bests and 13 event victories, Carolina sends a group of sprinters, jumpers and throwers to Miami to continue chasing personal-best and ACC-qualifying marks. The men's program is particularly excited about the debut of senior Kenny Selmon in the 400-meter hurdles. Selmon is a three-time All-America at the distance and owns the UNC record in the event.

"We are excited to get back on the track in Miami after some good performances at Duke," head coach Harlis Meaders said. "We will get an opportunity to add to our list of ACC qualifiers and hopefully get some more provisional qualifiers for the NCAA prelims. The University of Miami has a fantastic facility, and we are looking forward to competing against their athletes. Their women's program is one of the better programs in the country, and their men's program is an up-and-coming program. It will also be our first chance to see LSU, so we think that the competition on the high end is going to be really, really strong and it will be a good opportunity for us to improve upon our performances."

HOW TO FOLLOW
The meet will be streamed live on the ACC Network Extra through ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app — http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3334381/hurricane-collegiate-invitational

Live Results will be provided by Delta Timing — http://results.deltatiming.com/tf/2018-hurricane-collegiate-invite

A full schedule of events, heat sheets and a link to live results are also available at GoHeels.com.

Fans can follow @unctrack_field on Twitter and Instagram for 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 competition.

LAST TIME OUT
The Tar Heels competed against Duke and Michigan in the Battle of the Blues last Friday, April 6, accumulating 22 personal bests, 13 event victories, four times/marks that rank in the top five in UNC history and one school record.

Sophomore Brianna Duncan broke the 27-year-old 100 meters school record when she won the race in 11.35 in her season debut. The original record of 11.37, set by Kendra Mackey in 1991, stood for nearly three decades before Duncan took it down Friday afternoon. Duncan also set the 60 meters school record in her 2018 indoor season debut earlier this year, breaking the 20-year-old record previously set by Crystal Cox in 1998. By breaking the record, Duncan becomes the undisputed fastest woman in UNC history.

The field event highlight came in the women's hammer, where freshman Jill Shippee (Clifton Park, N.Y.) threw for 202-10 (61.83 meters) to take second, set a new lifetime best and move from third to second in UNC history in the event. Redshirt-junior Alex Cooke (Lowgap, N.C.) moved into the top-five in UNC history in the event for the first time, throwing for 196-7 (59.91 meters), which ranks fifth in UNC history.

One other track highlight came from junior Morgan Ilse (Dunwoody, Ga.), who ran 9:24.88 in the women's 3,000 meters, which is the fourth-fastest time in school history and an outdoor personal best for her by 26 seconds.

IN THE RANKINGS
With three weekends remaining in the season, the Tar Heels hold 13 top-five times/marks in the ACC, 12 top-25 times/marks in the east region and 12 times/marks that rank top-50 in the country.

TAR HEEL COMPETITION SCHEDULE
WOMEN
Field Events
High Jump (Following the men at 9 a.m.)