Presson's endurance carries Tar Heels track and field

North Carolina miler Isaac Presson hadn’t planned to compete in the 3,000-meter run. He was inexperienced and unseeded in the event, and his legs had tired after taking third place in the mile just hours earlier.

But none of that mattered. The UNC men were still in contention for the ACC indoor track and field crown, and only two events remained. Every point counted.

“I talked to coach (Harlis Meaders), and I told him I had a little left in the tank,” Presson said. “(Coach) said, ‘Give the 3K a go and see if you can score some points for the team.’ And I ended up doing much better than I expected.”

Presson, in fact, did much better than anyone expected. Eclipsing his personal best by nearly 20 seconds, Presson became the ACC 3,000-meter champion with a time of 8:15.20. More importantly to Presson, the 10 points he earned helped the UNC men secure second place in the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships in Clemson, S.C.

The result, like Presson’s win, was an upset — the unranked Tar Heels topped No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 19 Pittsburgh, falling behind only seventh-ranked Florida State. The UNC women, on the other hand, finished seventh in the ACC championships despite entering the competition at No. 12 in the national rankings.

For Meaders, the men’s performance didn’t come as a shock.

“We knew this meet was going to be close,” Meaders said. “As the meet moved forward, we really thought we had a chance to win it. Florida State is an excellent team and Notre Dame is a great team, but our team has come a really long way over the past couple years, and we really thought we had the chance.”

Perhaps Presson’s time in the 3,000-meter run shouldn’t have been a surprise, either. The senior had been focusing on the mile and simply hadn’t had the opportunity to post a fast time in the 3,000 before the seedings were made for the ACC championships. He had hoped to run the event in Seattle two weeks ago, but snow canceled the trip .

In the end, Presson said he benefited from entering the race unseeded. By setting the time to beat in the slower section, Presson placed serious pressure on the runners in the final heat. It turned out that no one could match Presson’s mark.

“In the second heat, where the guys were seeded faster, it became more of a tactical race,” Meaders explained. “The guys ran considerably slower during the first half of the race, and they got so far behind that there was no way that they could pass the time that Isaac set in the first heat.”

In addition to Presson, two other Tar Heels claimed an ACC title on Saturday — A.J. Hicks in the men’s weight throw and Annie LeHardy in the women’s 3,000-meter run. LeHardy acknowledged that the women were short-handed this weekend and that they will get better with time.

“We’re a small team right now, and we have some gaps that we need to fill,” LeHardy said. “None of us are satisfied because we know that we’re a better team than seventh. But I’m very proud of the way everyone competed today, and I know that after more training and filling some of those gaps, we’ll be a No. 1 team.”