Oct. 17, 2009

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -

Complete Meet Results

The University of North Carolina cross country teams faced big competition at Saturday's NCAA Pre-National Meet, but the Tar Heels were able to hold their own against some nationally ranked opponents. The women took an impressive eighth place finish out of 37 teams and the men took home 21st after taking on the muddy trails at Indiana State.

Lauren Holesh sparked a personal best out of the gate in an amazing 6000-meter run to take 10th place overall. The senior from Raleigh, N.C., beat her record 6K time by almost a minute and a half with a 20:51.6.

Sophomore Ashley Verplank was second for the Tar Heels with a 27th place finish in 21:19.3. The Pre-National race was only the second meet of the season for both Verplank and Holesh.

Freshman stand-out Mariana Lucena was third for the Carolina squad, running a 21:53.9 to take 79th. Redshirt sophomore Callan Fike (22:03.1) followed suit at 94th with sophomore Cara Hayes (22:11.2) right behind to take 104th.

Sophomore Michelle Lutz (placed 175th in 22:59.5) and freshman Veronica Wallington (198th in 23:18.7) also represented Carolina but did not score points for the team.

On the men's side, sophomore Evan Watchempino led the team with a 41st-place finish in the 8000-meter race. He finished with his second-fastest time of the season at 24:24.5.

Redshirt sophomore Adam Cunningham was next in line behind Watchempino, taking 65th overall in 24:40.6. Senior Zack Dawson ran the 8K in 25:19.0 to capture 119th. Redshirt sophomore John Curtiss (146th in 25:39.2) and sophomore Kyle Milks (175th in 26:00.9) also contributed to Carolina's point total.

Senior Stephen Bloemeke (191st in 26:12.7) and freshman Logan Rosenberg (199th in 6:23.5) also competed for the Tar Heels.

There were no surprises about which programs took first place. The nationally top-ranked women of Washington and the men of Stanford captured the team titles. Stanford's Chris Derrick won the men's individual in 23:27.1 while Illinois's Angela Bizzarri took the women's title in 20:27.8.

The Carolina cross country teams will head to the ACC Championships in Raleigh, N.C. for their next meet, scheduled October 31st.

Head Coach Peter Watson's Post-Meet Comments:
"Girls ran very well today and we accomplished the goal which was to finish in the top 10 and beat some ranked teams. We finished eighth and beat the 12th, 17th, 27th and 30th ranked teams in the country. Lauren was once again solid for us finishing an impressive 10th. She is a tough competitor and fights for every position. Ashley Verplank again came through big for us finishing in 27th. She came through the field just like at Notre Dame. This is a big result for her and shows how strong Ashley is getting. Most importantly, our number three through five runners (Mariana, Callan and Cara) packed it in tight and fought for every position. We could not have accomplished this without these girls stepping up like they did today."

"I'm disappointed with the guys result, they are better than the result showed. Evan and Adam were solid and competed well and put us in a good spot to start. Zach Dawson was steady as our third man, but I know he has more in him. As for our four through seven runners, we have some guys just getting healthy and in two weeks at the ACC's these guys have to figure out how put it all together and get across the line a little higher up. Today was a learning experience for them and I know they are going to take a deep look at their performances and they will be better at the ACC's."