Men Capture Carolina Cup, 10 Tar Heels Qualify for ACC Indoors

Friday, January 11

Chapel Hill, N.C.

4 P.M.

North Carolina

Gene Anderson Invitational

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

Men Capture Carolina Cup, 10 Tar Heels Qualify for ACC Indoors

January 12, 2019 | Track & Field

Results

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The North Carolina Tar Heels entered the 2019 season in full force at the sixth-annual Dick Taylor Carolina Cup on Saturday. The men's team extended their streak of at least sharing a piece of the Cup to six-straight years while 10 Tar Heels opened with ACC qualifying performances. Though the season is still in the early stages, numerous student-athletes finished with some of the top performances in the conference and in the nation this year.

"We've got a good team on both the men's side and the women's side, so to get some of these [ACC] preliminary qualifiers done in the first meet is really good," head coach Harlis Meaders said. "I think it's the first meet of the season. Kids are coming back off of the holiday and there are a little bit of nerves, but as the season progresses we'll start seeing even more qualifiers."

Sophomore Anna Keefer will head back to the conference championships in February in hopes of defending her 2018 ACC Indoor Championship title in the women's long jump. The St. Michael Albertville, Minn. native and second-team All-American hit 19-5 1/2 (5.93m) — the second-best mark in the ACC — in her Carolina Cup performance to solidify an ACC bid.

Redshirt junior Draven Crist also had a standout performance, clearing 7-0 1/2 (2.15m) for a first-place finish, new personal record and the top mark in the ACC.

In throws, three of four competitors landed spots in the ACC Championship competition. Graduate student Alex Cooke finished first in the women's weight throw with a mark of 65-3 1/2 (19.90m) and sophomore Jill Shippee followed her in third, throwing 64-5 (19.63m). Junior Daniel McArthur easily wrapped up the throws for UNC and hit the ACC's best mark of 59-3 (18.06m) in the men's shot put.

Senior Anna Eaton, a 2017 honorable mention All-American pole vaulter, held nothing back in her first meet of the season. The Cary, N.C. native vaulted for a ACC-best height of 13-5 1/4 (4.10m) to qualify for the ACC Indoor Championships and now ranks third all-time at UNC.

Senior Darryl Shaw will also represent the Tar Heels in Blacksburg, Va. after recording 48-6 1/4 (14.79m) in the men's triple jump and redshirt sophomore Marcus Krah ran an 8.13 60-meter hurdles race to join his nine other teammates at the conference meet. Both performances rank sixth in the ACC.

In a photo finish, sophomores Isaiah Palmer and Ryan Saint-Germain both secured ACC Indoor Championship appearances in the men's 200 after running converted times of 21.53 and 21.54, respectively, a personal-best for Palmer.

While four student-athletes hold the top ACC marks, Crist and Eaton are currently ranked ninth in Division I track & field in their respective events while McArthur (14th), Palmer (18th), Keefer (20th), Saint-Germain (21st) and Cooke (21st) all rank among the top 20 performers.

Overall, the Heels collected 13 first-place honors and set five new career bests in just the first meet of the season. The men took the top score of 62 points with Duke (47), Wake Forest (24) and East Carolina (19) earning respective finishes and the women placed second as Duke (57) bested North Carolina (42), East Carolina (35) and Wake Forest (23).

"We look at where a number of these kids started last year and their performances this year are significantly better than where they started last year. So hopefully we'll continue to build, get a little bit better each week so hopefully by the time we get to the ACC Championships we'll really hit our peak."

OTHER CAROLINA CUP HIGHLIGHTS
Men
• Freshman Onyedikachi Ohia-Enya took first in a close men's 400, clocking 50.22 for a narrow victory by one one-hundredth of a second.
• Junior Cameron Douglas finished the men's 400 in second place behind teammate Ohia-Enya with a time of 50.23.
• Redshirt-junior Joey Souza made his first long jump appearance for the Tar Heels since 2017 and took the event title with a mark of 22-5 1/4 (6.84m).
• Sophomore Dontavian Smith just missed the ACC qualifying time in the men's 60 and recorded a time of 6.94 in his season-opening performance.
• The men's 4x400 (Saint-Germain, Johnson, Douglas, Palmer) tacked on some major points for their team with a first-place finish and a converted time of 3:13.79.

Women
• Freshman Nicole Barnes finished second in the women's 60-meter hurdles and just missed the ACC cut-off time of 8.51 with her 8.54-second run.
• Junior Mady Clahane made a strong statement in the women's 3,000 meters, winning the event and setting a new personal record of 9:37.21.
• Redshirt-sophomore Ashley Smith ran for a new career record of 5:08.01 in the mile.
• Freshman Maiah Walker finished second in the women's 200 with a time of 24.84.
• Freshman Aliyah Taylor clocked 58.73 to place second in her first ever collegiate 400 appearance.

GENE ANDERSON INVITATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
Though Carolina did not enter any athletes into Friday's competition, Scott Houston (UNA) set a new facility record of 17-11 (5.46m) in the men's pole vault. The Eddie Smith Field House record was previously held by Stephan Munz of Virginia Tech with a height of 17-10 1/2.

NEXT UP: The Tar Heels have a long season of travel ahead of them with South Carolina first on their list of stops. The two-day Gamecock Inaugural from Jan. 18-19 in Columbia, S.C. is slated to begin at 10 a.m. on Friday and at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Just one week later, UNC will head back to the state of South Carolina, this time for Clemson's Tiger Paw Invitational from Jan. 25-26.

Follow the Tar Heels at @unctrack_field on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for updates all season long.