June 6, 2007

Results

SACRAMENTO, Calif. --- Four members of the University of North Carolina track and field teams advanced from preliminaries on day one of the NCAA Championships Wednesday at Hornet Stadium on the campus of Sacramento State. Adam Montague, Justin Ryncavage and Nick Owens all bought themselves spots in event finals later this week, while Georgia Kloss earned a ticket to a Thursday semifinal in the women's 800 meters.

Montague and Ryncavage opened the meet with a quality start for the No. 9 Carolina men as both advanced to the men's javelin final on Friday. Montague's second throw of 217 feet, 11 inches (66.42 meters) was the eighth best mark in preliminary round, from which 12 competitors advanced. Ryncavage used a 217-10 toss (66.39m) on his third attempt to come in just behind Montague in ninth position. Chris Hill of McNeese State had the top preliminary mark on the day with a throw of 238-10 (72.80m).

Owens became the third Tar Heel to qualify for a Friday event final, posting the best preliminary mark in the men's hammer throw to advance. Owens threw 230-4 (70.22m) on his second attempt to win his heat, edging Cory Martin of Auburn (228-5). Those two were the only competitors to top 220 feet in the preliminary heats.

Mateo Sossah also competed for the Tar Heel men Wednesday, completing five events in the decathlon. Sossah's best showing came in the high jump, where he cleared 6-7 1/2 to tie for third and accrue 822 points. His score after day one sat at 3,618 points, putting him in 22nd place heading into the remaining five events on Thursday.

For the Carolina women, Kloss finished third in her heat in the first round of the women's 800 meters, qualifying her for one of 16 spots in the semifinals in that event. Kloss ran 2:07.67 to finish third in her heat behind Minnesota's Heather Dorniden and Michigan's Geena Gall. Another Wolverine, Katie Erdman, recorded the fastest time of the day, crossing the line in 2:04.14.

Jocelyn White also competed in the women's discus Wednesday for UNC but did not advance from the preliminary, barely missing the top 12. White, who finished fifth in the event in 2005, threw 163-11 (49.97m) to end up in 15th position.

In addition to Kloss competing in the semifinals of the women's 800 meters and Sossah participating in day two of the decathlon, three other Tar Heels will be in action Thursday. Reggie Berry will hit the track for round one of the men's 400-meter hurdles, Brie Felnagle will try to qualify for the final of the 1,500 meters, and Kelly Fazekas will partake in the preliminaries of the women's shot put.

No finals have been contest thus far, so there is no team scoring as of yet.