UNC track and field opens season with Carolina Cup win

The North Carolina track and field team opened its season on a good note — with the women's team winning the Dick Taylor Carolina Cup Friday and the men's team tying for first in the meet.

What happened?

In the Carolina Cup, the women won with 72 points, and the men tied Duke for first with 41 points.

The women's team excelled early and often throughout the meet, as Tar Heels finished in top four in all 14 events.

The points starting accumulating right away with first-year Brianna Duncan’s second place finish in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.53 seconds. Duncan later recorded another second place finish in the long jump with a distance of 5.76 meters.

In the 400-meter dash, junior Cierra Dunston placed first with a time of 56.40 seconds. Two events later, sophomore Morgan Ilse secured first place as well, with a time of 4:56.47 in the mile — a personal record.

In the next event, Ilse recorded another first place finish, this time in the 3000-meter run, with a time of 9:51.20. First-year Mady Clahane followed not far behind, taking second place in 9:53.19.

The next three events had Tar Heels finish in first. The most notable of these events was the high jump, where sophomore Nicole Greene, senior Emily Godwin and sophomore Tainasha Vines finished first, second and third, respectively.

To end the impressive day for the women, junior Alexis Gannon finished first for the Tar Heels in the triple jump, and redshirt sophomore Sarah Howard placed first in the shot put.

The men followed by tying for first place with Duke.

Sophomore Amari DeVaughn and first-year Brandon Cachon placed first and third in the 400-meter dash with times of 49.65 seconds and 49.81 seconds, respectively.

In the one-mile run, three Tar Heels finished in the top three – junior Logan Carroll and first-year Alex Milligan and Mitch Resor.

To cap off the night for the Tar Heels, three of the final four events for the men saw first place finishers – sophomores Joey Souza in the long jump and Darryl Shaw in the triple jump, followed by first-year Daniel McArthur in the shot put.

Three Tar Heels competed in the Art and Linda Maillet UNC Open Saturday, with the best finisher being senior John Ramsey, who placed second in the pole vault.

Who stood out?

Ilse stood out on the women’s side. Her two first place finishes – one of which was a personal record – are the second fastest times in the ACC this season.

On the men’s side, the 4x400-meter relay team of redshirt senior RJ Alowonle, redshirt junior Kwame Donyinah, first-year Harrison Young and senior Cory Nicholls, put up their most notable performance, with a near five-second victory over second-place East Carolina.

When was it decided?

The women’s victory was decided early on. Their first place finish seemed eminent after six events, as during those six events they accumulated 30 points – seven more than the next closest competitor, Duke.

The men’s tie for first went down to the very last event. The Tar Heel men led the Duke men 41-39 up until the last event, where Duke scored its final two points to result in the first place tie.

Why does it matter?

Both victories show great promise for the rest of the season. The success across the board — from first-years to seniors — in the first meet of the season is a great sign for the UNC track and field program’s 2017 campaign.

Where do they play next?

The Tar Heels have a quick turnaround, as they host the two-day Tobacco Road Multis starting on Wednesday.

@esingletary4

sports@dailytarheel.com