North Carolina seniors Malai Walker and Emory Parsons could not have picked a better time to achieve their personal bests.
As two of 15 seniors competing in their last meet in Chapel Hill, Walker took first place in the women’s 200-meter dash with a time of 24.12 seconds while Parsons claimed victory with a throw of 176-11 in the men’s discus.
The pair of victories was characteristic of the Tar Heels’ success Saturday at the Kent Taylor-Joe Hilton Invitational. It was North Carolina’s only home meet of the outdoor season and last competition before next week’s ACC Championships.
For Walker, also a member of the winning 4×100-meter team, the meet’s atmosphere was bittersweet.
“I’ve been running for 10 years, and it’s all coming to a close,” she said. “It’s sad, but I know there’s a new chapter out there for me.”
Assistant coach Josh Langley said he was excited for Walker’s success, especially as she has fought injuries to her Achilles tendon and hamstring.
“She’s been a little frustrated with some of her performances,” Langley said. “But to see her finally put together some good races, some quality performances, that makes you really happy for a senior, for sure.”
The Tar Heels also added victories in four other events. Zoey Russell won the women’s 400-meter dash, Sandi Morris cleared the highest bar in the women’s pole vault and Ashley Verplank finished first in the 1500-meter race while the men’s 4×400-meter team took first place, posting its best time of the season.
“We definitely were competitive, and you want to see that the week before ACC’s,” Langley said. “You want to see the competitive fire in your athletes, battling for the top places and I think we saw that today so I’m pretty excited.”