UNC track and field opens outdoor season

Eight athletes set personal records this weekend in the North Carolina track and field team’s opening outdoor meet.

The team hosted the Carolina Relays at the Belk Track and competed against N.C. State, Duke, Pittsburgh, East Carolina and Temple.

“As a whole I was pleased with the effort that the kids put forth for the first meet of the season,” said track and field coach Harlis Meaders.

“As they get more competition under their belt, they’ll continue to improve.”

Though overall team scores weren’t recorded, the team posted first place finishes in six events — women’s long jump, women’s hammer throw, men’s 800-meter run, men’s 2000-meter steeplechase, men’s 4x400 meter relay and men’s pole vault.

In his first UNC meet, sophomore Austin Vegas set a personal record of 16-6 3/4 in his first place pole vault finish.

“It’s always nice to (set a personal record), especially early in the year,” he said.

Vegas said he wants to clear 17 feet this season and qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.

“Bigger, stronger, faster — that’ll be the goal,” he said.

A redshirt last outdoor season, sophomore Richard Miller won the 800-meter race with a time of 1:53:24.

“It was a good first meet,” he said. “It’s setting me up well for the rest of the season.”

Miller said the team is looking to win the ACC Championship and qualify as many people for the National Championships as possible.

He said while the conference is more competitive with new teams, he thinks UNC is in a good position to compete well across all events.

Sophomore Avana Story won the women’s hammer throw but said she was not pleased with her performance.

“It was a really bad performance at the end,” she said. “I just knew I needed to come out with the win.”

Story threw 53.69 meters, almost four meters shy of her personal record, 57.40.

“The biggest thing would be my mindset, competition-wise, going into each meet,” she said. “No matter the competition, there weren’t any great hammer throwers in the last meet, and I sometimes tend to compete at their level instead of throwing what I’m supposed to and what I’m capable of throwing.”

As a whole, Story said she thinks UNC performed well and that freshmen stepped up in their first outdoor meet.

“We have a lot to show for the rest of the outdoor season.”

On Friday, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association ranked the North Carolina men’s team 16th in the running for Program of the Year.

But Meaders knows June is still a long ways away.

“I’m sure our rankings will fluctuate,” he said. “Our goal is to be among the top 20 and go toward the national championship.”

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