April 19, 2003

Results

Raleigh, N.C. - With a total score of 238, the University of North Carolina women's track team blew by the competition at the two-day, 21 event, ACC outdoor track championship. Head Coach Dennis Craddock was beaming while addressing the media Saturday afternoon.

"I have been coaching for 37 years and I have never taken 28 athletes to a meet and all of them score points. That not only speaks to the effort of our team, but to my devoted and dedicated coaching staff. They have worked very hard with these student athletes to get in a position to win championships."

UNC Junior Shalane Flanagan had an outstanding afternoon. Placing a 4:13.05 time in the 1500 meter run gives her the fastest finish a for an American woman in the outdoor 1500 meter this year. She also won the 5000 meter run with a time of 15:47.45.

Flanagan stated, "It was a National championship type day. It was one of my best all around performances. I must say that we all focused on doing our best. It was a total team effort in the end."

With a 5,136 total, UNC's Tatyana Kirichenko won the Women's heptathlon event by only two points over Florida State University's Deanna Lane who finish at 5,134. Kirichenko noted that she was very excited about her performance, adding, "I actually had a bad start so I new I had to pick it up and I did."

Other Tar Heel women who had an outstanding meet included Tiffany Flomo who won the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 59:06. Freshman Laura Gerraughty won the hammer throw and shot put event with distances of 58.30 and 17.83 meters, respectively. Jill Pedretti won the discus throw with 52.58 meter effort.

The UNC women had strong finishes in field events as well. Laura Gerraughty won the shot put and hammer throw event, while Jill Pedretti won the discus throw with a 52.58 meter effort.

On the men's side of the meet the top finish by the Tar Heels was had by Adam Shunk who won the men's high jump with a final effort of 2.18 meters and Blair Woodward who won top honors in the long jump with a 7.56 meter effort.

UNC's Andrew Craycraft finished third in the 800 meter run and Kevin Watson had a second place finish in the 110 meter hurdles with a 14.16 finish.

The UNC Track will next compete in the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pa. on April 24 through the 26th, 2003.