Tar Heels Optimistic Heading Into 2021 Cross Country Season

Take a successful 2020 season, add a dose of great young talent and the result is a high level of optimism as the North Carolina cross country program heads into 2021. UNC opens the season on Friday morning at the Charlotte Opener, where the program's strong core of returners will be complemented by the debut of one of the nation's top incoming classes.

In the two-team competition against the 49ers, the women's start is at 9:45 a.m., with the men underway at 10:15 at Frank Liske Park in Concord.

"We're excited to get the ball rolling and see what these young teams can do over the next two and a half months," said Chris Miltenberg, UNC's Director of Track & Field/Cross Country.

Both teams finished in the top seven at the 2020 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, and the women qualified to compete as a team at the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2014. In Stillwater, Okla., in March, the Tar Heel women placed 14^th overall, the team's best finish since 2010. All but one UNC runner who competed there returns to the team for 2021.

"They all got great experience over the course of last year, both running at the NCAA Championships and running really high-level outdoor track, and I think we're coming back way better," Miltenberg said. "And then we added an outstanding freshman class, arguably the best class in the country with a few key people that will make an impact right away, so the goal is to keep climbing at the NCAA Championship and take a shot at cracking that top 10, which I think we're very much on the way to doing."

Among the Tar Heel returners are senior Paige Hofstad, who placed 29^th at NCAAs to earn All-America honors, and sophomore Sasha Neglia, the 2020 ACC Freshman of the Year. They're among six of seven finishers from last year's NCAA Championship trip who are back this season. Among the group of newcomers is Sydney Masciarelli, the 2018 Footlocker Cross Country Champion and a two-time winner of Gatorade Player of the Year honors in Connecticut for both cross country and track & field.

Dylan Sorensen, now in his third year on the UNC coaching staff, was promoted over the summer from assistant coach to head coach of the women's cross country team and will continue to coach that group while Miltenberg focuses on the men.

While the women head into the season ranked 13^th nationally, UNC's highest preseason ranking since 2011, the Tar Heel men's team also has plenty of reasons for excitement. The men placed seventh at the ACC Championship, a three-spot jump from the previous year, and senior John Tatter competed at NCAA Championships as an individual. Tatter, Jesse Hunt, Marshall Williamson and transfer Jack Aho, who comes to Chapel Hill from the University of Michigan, will provide experience and leadership for Carolina. Among the newcomers is Parker Wolfe, the 2020-21 Gatorade National Boys Cross Country Player of the Year.

"On the men's side we have an incredibly young team, returning a lot of sophomores who got great experience last year and welcoming an outstanding freshman class and a great addition in our graduate transfer Jack Aho," Miltenberg said. "We're excited to just keep climbing – we were seventh at the ACC Championships last year, no doubt we can take another big step forward. Our big goal is to get the team back to the NCAA Championships and back to the top five in the ACC. I think the progress we made last spring was certainly very much on track to do so, and we're excited to get started this Friday in Charlotte."

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jack Aho

Paige Hofstad

Jesse Hunt

Sydney Masciarelli

Sasha Neglia

John Tatter

Marshall Williamson

Parker Wolfe

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics