Sept. 1, 2007

Men's Results | Women's Results | Photo Gallery 

Chapel Hill, N.C. - The University of North Carolina cross country teams opened the 2007 season on Saturday as the men and women both competed in the Tar Heels only home meet of the year. Addie Bracy paced the women with a time of 18:13.40 to capture the top spot in the race, while Alex Ray was the top runner for the men with a time of 15:38.10 good for third overall on the men's side.

The men opened the competition running a 5K instead of the traditional 8K the men tend to run as a warmup for the season. High Point claimed the team title placing four of the top five runners to score 19 total points. Carolina took second place as Alex Ray finished in third at 15:38.10 to lead the Tar Heels. Nick Hutchins and Zach Dawson were just six seconds apart at 16:04.40 and 16:10.90 to finish seventh and eighth overall and second and third for the Tar Heels.

> "We expected a better performance for the men," head coach Michael Whittlesey said. "I felt good at the two mile mark but High Point just seemed to pull away from there."

Rounding out the top five for Carolina were Stephen Bloemeke who finished in 11th with a time of 16:13.70 and Brock Baker who took 13th place crossing the line in 16:23.40. Running unattached from UNC were freshman Adam Cunningham and sophomore Ian Bracy who finished sixth and seventh respectively.

"We have been preparing for the 8K rather than the 5K so I like where we are at right now and this was a good way to open our season," Whittlesey added.

On the women's side, Addie Bracy took home top honors finishing the 5K course in 18:13.40, nearly five seconds faster than the next closest runner. Carolina assured the victory taking spots four through seven tallying just 23 points. Finishing fourth overall was Kristy Longman who was leading a trio of runners all within seven seconds of each other. Longman finished at 18:48.80 before Morgan Stengel and Lauren Holesh crossed the line at nearly the exact same time. Stengel nosed out Holesh as she finished with a time of 18:55.20 and Holesh was in at 18:55.50. Alexis Deegan took home 10th place with a time of 19:37.40, just ahead of Emily Hoffman who finished at 19:38.90.

"Any time you can win you're happy about it and I was very pleased with Addie picking up the win," Whittlesey mentioned.

The men and women will travel in two weeks to Boone, N.C. to run in the Mountaineer Open set to begin at 5:45 p.m. on Friday, September 14.