June 6, 2006

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. --- Eleven members of the University of North Carolina men's and women's track teams will travel to Sacramento, Calif., this week for the 2006 Division I NCAA Track and Field Championships. Seven members of the 14th-ranked women and four members of the 13th-ranked men will compete at Hornet Stadium on the campus of Sacramento State University.

Leading the women will be Laura Gerraughty, a three-time NCAA champion and 2004 Olympian in the shot put. After redshirting the 2005 outdoor season due to injury, Gerraughty will return this year looking for her second career outdoor title. The 2006 NCAA East Region champion, Gerraughty's top mark of 61 feet, 6 3/4 inches (18.76 meters) currently leads the nation.

Sheena Gordon also enters the meet as a former NCAA champion. The Erie, Pa., native was the 2006 indoor winner in the high jump. Gordon took seventh in the event in last year's meet and enters with a top clearance of 6-0 (1.83m). The high jump should prove to be highly competitive, as just .09 meters separates the top 12 entrants.

Two other Tar Heel women who already hold NCAA titles will be in action this week. Georgia Kloss and Megan Kaltenbach, two legs of UNC's national champion distance medley relay team this indoor season, will compete individually in the 800 and 1,500 meters, respectively. Kloss, who received an at-large berth, enters the 800 with the sixth-best time in the nation (2:04.53). Kaltenbach is seeded 17th in the 1,500 with a time of 4:20.54 that is less than five seconds slower than the top mark in the event.

Cassie King rounds out the Tar Heel women on the track. King, who earned All-America honors in the steeplechase in 2005, returns to the event ranked eighth in the nation. King, a native of Kernersville, N.C., has a top time of 10:16.33 this season.

A pair of Carolina discus throwers will also be in action. Jocelyn White, who finished fifth in the event in 2005, is seeded 11th (180-1/54.90m). Marija Kurtovic, who is competing in her second NCAA outdoor meet, is seeded 24th (169-9/51.75m).

On the men's side, all four competitors are throwers.

A qualifier in both the shot put and the discus, Vikas Gowda leads the Tar Heels. A senior from Frederick, Md., Gowda capped an outstanding 2005 campaign with a runner-up finish in the discus. This year he enters the NCAA outdoor meet ranked third in the discus and ninth in the shot put. Gowda, a 2004 Olympian in the discus, established a new school record in the shot in 2006 (64-4 1/2/19.62m). His top mark of 202-7 (61.76m) in the discus makes him one of just eight collegians to eclipse 60 meters in 2006.

Two other Tar Heel men enter the meet seeded in the top five in their respective events. Nick Owens has a personal-best and school-record mark of 229-3 (69.88) this season, good for fifth in the hammer throw. He is also the top American collegian in the meet. Justin Ryncavage carries the third-best javelin mark of the season to Sacramento. Another regional champion and school record holder, Ryncavage has a top mark of 241-3 (73.55m). He will be joined in the event by teammate Adam Montague, who is seeded 21st with a top mark of 224-8 (68.47m).

With student-athletes competing in eight throwing events, Carolina has the most throwing entries of any school in the meet. UNC's five throwing entries on the men's side is also tops in the country, while three women's entries is tied for fourth-most.

A complete schedule of events can be found here.