Feb. 22, 2003
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.-The North Carolina women's track and field team won its 14th championship, and the men's team finished fourth at the Atlantic Coast Conference indoor track and field championships Friday and Saturday in the Eddie Smith Fieldhouse.
Tar Heels brought home 10 individual conference titles and one relay title. The Carolina women have won 10 of the last 11 championships and 14 of the 17 championships overall. The men's team improved one spot after finishing fifth in 2002.
Following Carolina's 129.5 points on the women's side was Georgia Tech with 110.5, Florida State (85), Virginia (74.5), NC State (66), Wake Forest (53), Duke (40.5), Maryland (37) and Clemson (27). On the men's side, Florida State posted a convincing victory with 135.5 points, followed by Clemson (111.50), Georgia Tech (105.50), North Carolina (99), NC State (84.5), Duke (36), Virginia (28), Wake Forest (19) and Maryland (5).
Freshman Laura Gerraughty joined juniors Shalane Flanagan and Alice Schmidt to win two events. After setting an ACC meet record in the shot put on Friday, Gerraughty won the weight throw with a mark of 64-10. Schmidt, who along with Flanagan and sophomores Carol Henry and Jennifer Nelms helped the Carolina distance medley relay team to a first-place finish, also set a meet record in the 800-meter with a time of 2:05.54. Her time was an indoor school record and the fourth best NCAA automatic qualifying time in the nation this indoor season.
Flanagan extender her victory streak to eight-consecutive collegiate races winning the mile run with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 4:38.25. She is now a 12-time ACC Champion. The 2002 ACC Indoor Most Valuable Performer entered the meet as the top seeded performer in the 3,000-meter by more than 25 seconds, but was a late scratch Saturday because the Tar Heels hard already clinched the women's title.
The Carolina women's other ACC Champions were in the sprints. Juniors Tiffany Flomo and Anissa Gainey won the 400-meter and 200-meter dashes, respectively. Flomo posted a time of 54.81 and Gainey ran a time of 24.27.
On the men's side, seniors Adam Shunk and Blair Woodward defended their indoor titles in jumping events, while sophomore Kevin Watson and junior Andrew Craycraft won the first ACC title of their Carolina careers.
Shunk topped a difficult field, winning the event with a height of 7-3 and fewer misses. Woodward defended his long jump title Friday with a mark of 24-8 1/2.
Watson was an upset winner in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.00, and Craycraft, the favorite going into the 800-meter, won with a time of 1:52.49.
Also earning All-ACC recognition for a Top 3 finish for the Carolina women were senior Bobbie Jo Munson (800) and sophomore Tatyana Kirichenko (pole vault). On the men's side, junior Daniel Harris was All-ACC in both the long jump and triple jump.
