The North Carolina cross country team opened its regular season with a pair of strong performances Friday. Both the men's and women's teams placed second in the Charlotte Opener, the first of the Tar Heels’ four regular-season meets.
What happened?
On the men's side, the Tar Heels competed against UNC-Charlotte, Wake Forest, Georgia and Queens University. Redshirt sophomore Mitch Resor finished third overall at 15:23.5. He was followed by junior Jeremy Brown, redshirt sophomore Brodie Modini, and redshirt first-year Ian Moini, all of whom finished within two seconds of each other at seventh, eighth and ninth place, respectively. Junior Matt Thornton came in at 11th, clocking in at 15:37.1. The Tar Heels were barely beaten out for first place by the Charlotte 49ers, with both teams dominating the day and taking 10 of the top 11 spots.
The women finished second among a slightly larger field, besting Georgia, Charlotte, Queens, Davidson and Wake Forest. West Virginia took home first in the event. The women's team had finishes of fifth, sixth, seventh, 10th and 12th for a total team score of 40.
In her first collegiate meet, first-year Enyaeva Michelin was the top finisher for the Tar Heels. She finished in fifth place with a time of 18:41.8. Junior Erin Edmundson and redshirt senior Casey Greenwalt came in right behind Michelin. Edmundson placed sixth with a time of 18:46.1, less than a second ahead of Greenwalt. First-year Camryn Petit finished in 18:51.3, while junior Ashley Smith’s time was 19:05.1
Who stood out?
Resor posted the best finish of any Tar Heel. His third-place run of 15:23.5 was only 15 seconds behind the winner. Last season as a first-year, Resor was the top finisher for North Carolina in two meets, and his performance in Charlotte shows he is poised to yet again be a top runner for North Carolina.
Why does it matter?
The meet was North Carolina’s first under new head coach Andrea Grove-McDonough, who was previously the head coach at Iowa State. While UNC placed only 11th in the ACC Championships last season in both the men's and women's competitions, Grove-McDonough has enough promising returners to improve this season.
