On Feb. 17, 1974, UNC's Tony Waldrop set an indoor mile world record of 3:55. Forty-four years later, the 2018 North Carolina men's and women's track and field teams set some records of their own.
In the UCS Invitational this past weekend in Winston-Salem, UNC took first place in two events and second in two others. It was the team's final event of the indoor regular season before the ACC indoor track and field championships.
What happened?
On the women's side, sophomore Brianna Duncan won first place out of eight contenders in the women’s 60 meters with a time of 7.42, improving off her preliminary time of 7.51. The next closest time was a 7.61.
First-year Peighton Simmons also earned first place out of 10 competitors in the women’s triple jump with a 40-7 mark on her third attempt. Sophomore Brianna Isles secured second place for North Carolina with a mark of 11.76m.
In the women’s 4000m distance medley relay, the Tar Heel team of seniors Cierra Dunston, Blake Dodge, Caroline Alcorta and sophomore Erin Edmundson placed second out of eight teams with a time of 11:17.78.
Edmundson ran the first leg, but Dunston inherited being behind and had to come from behind. By the next exchange, Dodge brought the Tar Heels into second position. Finally, Alcorta was passed the baton and — although she was in first place for a moment — she lost the lead to Villanova toward the end of the race. The final race time was converted to 11:10.60, making it the fastest in the ACC this season, and the 8th fastest in the NCAA.
Senior Janice Ezenwa placed fourth out of 18 competitors in the women’s long jump with a 5.57m mark. Ezenwa also placed fourth in the women’s triple jump with an 11.34m mark.
Junior Kristin Hall placed ninth out of 32 runners with a time of 26.48 in the women’s 200 meters. Hall also placed 10th out of 32 with time of 59.26 in the women’s 400 meters.
