Tar Heels Battle Through Rainy Weekend

Friday, April 19

Charlottesville, VA

All Day

North Carolina

Virginia Challenge

Drew Pederson
pole vault
University of North Carolina Track and Field
Battle of the Blues
Morris Williams Stadium
Durham, NC
Saturday, March 18, 2016

Drew Pedersen

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

April 20, 2019 | Track & Field

Virginia Challenge Results Duke Invitational Results

DURHAM, N.C. / CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - North Carolina track and field faced a challenging weekend at the Duke Invitational and the Virginia Challenge as adverse weather threatened to halt the two-day competitions. Despite the rainy and windy conditions, the Tar Heels managed to still set five season bests and four personal records between Durham and Charlottesville.

"A number of our student-athletes were off this weekend resting up, preparing for exams and getting ready for next weekend, but the kids who did compete did fairly well," head coach Harlis Meaders said. "We're excited to see the continual improvements from the distance group and to see some new faces with their first collegiate wins, especially Emily Malone in the women's javelin throw. I think that is a fantastic accomplishment by her and the marked improvements by Drew Pedersen in the pole vault and Madeline Kraft in the women's 800 were really great."

The Tar Heels four personal records all came in distance events while numerous other Carolina competitors barely missed their personal-best marks.

Drew Pedersen, a senior from Apex, N.C., cleared a collegiate-best height of 16-4 3/4 (5.00 meters) for fifth place in the men's pole vault at the Duke Invitational. Pedersen's performance was just one quarter inch off his lifetime best and ranks third in the ACC.

Daniel McArthur, a junior from Mooresville, N.C., threw 62-8 (19.10 meters) for a season-best shot put and fifth place at the Virginia Challenge. McArthur's performance missed his outdoor personal record by just one centimeter and improved his ACC No. 2 mark.

Madeline Kraft, a sophomore from Winston-Salem, N.C., opened her season with a lifetime-best performance to win the women's 800 in Virginia. Her time of 2:09.85 bested her previous career record by over two seconds.

In the Virginia Challenge's 1,500-meter races, Ashley Smith, Emmeline Fisher and Mitch Resor each clocked a personal-best time. Fisher, a sophomore transfer from Morehead City, N.C., ran 4:35.85 and Smith, a redshirt sophomore from Clemmons, N.C., finished in 4:41.54. Resor, a junior from Charlotte, N.C., placed second in the men's 1,500-meter competition with a lifetime-best 3:57.38.

"Next weekend will be the final opportunity prior to the conference championships," Meaders said. "Part of the group will travel to Florida for the Tom Jones Memorial and the others will come back up to Charlottesville which is of course the site for the ACC Outdoor Championships."

OTHER CAROLINA HIGHLIGHTS

Duke Invitational
• Emily Malone, a freshman from Missoula, Mont., earned her first collegiate win in the women's javelin after throwing 148-5 (45.25 meters) for the event title.
• Anna Eaton, a senior from Cary, N.C., cleared 13-3 1/2 (4.05 meters) for fourth in the women's pole vault.
• Jared Martin, a redshirt junior from Greensboro, N.C., finished seventh in the men's javelin with an ACC qualifying mark of 187-3 (57.07 meters).

Virginia Challenge
• Nicole Greene, a redshirt junior from Ponte Vedra, Fla., won her fifth-straight women's high jump competition after clearing 5-10 (1.78 meters).
• Jill Shippee and Alex Cooke each hit ACC qualifying marks in the women's hammer to close out competition on Saturday. Shippee threw for 207-2 (63.25 meters) and Cooke 188-3 (57.39 meters).
• Jeremy Brown, a junior from Raleigh, N.C., ran his first-ever 10,000-meter race on the track, crossing the finish line in 30:17.66.

UP NEXT: North Carolina heads into the final weekend of the regular season in hopes of securing a few more ACC qualifying times/marks. The Tar Heels are scheduled to return to three locations — Gainesville, Fla. for the Tom Jones Memorial Meet; Charlottesville, Va. for the Virginia Grand Prix; and Greensboro, N.C. for the Aggie Classic.