June 11, 2008

Results

DES MOINES, Iowa - The Outdoor NCAA Championships opened in Des Moines, Iowa on Wednesday and the North Carolina track and field teams turned in stellar performances on the opening day of prelims. Freshman LaToya James posted the third-best time in the 400-meter hurdles as she clocked a 57.56 in the event to move on to the semifinal scheduled for Thursday. Four other Tar Heels qualified for the finals in their respective events on Wednesday.

James won her heat, the fifth and final of the preliminaries, as she ran a 57.56. The time was the third-fastest of the season for James in her impressive freshman campaign as she put herself in Thursday's semifinal.

In other track action, fellow freshman Charles Cox ran a 46.71 in the 400-meter dash to move on to Friday's semifinal race for the right to race for the title on Saturday. Cox may have finished fourth in his heat but he was less than a half second from capturing the heat as he finished 15th overall.

Another freshman, Dominique Jackson, has advanced to the semifinal round of the 800-meter run on Thursday as she clocked a two-lap time of 2:07.89. Jackson's time was the 14th-best of the day and was her third-best of the outdoor season.

The high jumping duo of Patience Coleman and Donte Nall both moved onto their respective finals on Wednesday as both survived the first cut of the preliminary rounds. Coleman was one of 16 jumpers who cleared 5-8.5 to seal her position in Friday's final. Nall cleared 6-10.75 on his first jump to punch his ticket for Friday's final and will look to score points for the Tar Heel men.

Senior Jocelyn White closed out her career on Wednesday as she was unable to qualify for the final of the discus throw falling just two feet shy of the eighth and final position. White tallied a throw of 160-1 to finish 11th overall.

James and Jackson along with Brie Felnagle (1500) and Megan Kaltenbach (1500) will be in semifinal action on Thursday as the quartet will all look to advance to their respective finals.