Cross Country Teams Enjoy 1st Taste of Victory

The UNC Challenge at Finley Golf Course on Saturday gave the Tar Heels their first drink of success.

The UNC men and women both claimed first place against Virginia Commonwealth and UNC-Charlotte. Before Saturday's race, a first place finish had escaped both teams.

The UNC women (20 points) dominated their race, placing seven in the top 10. Freshman Shalane Flanagan won for the third week in a row.

"Today was the easiest race thus far because the competition wasn't that great," Flanagan said. "I've been sort of lucky. The competition will come eventually. But I think now I'm just a big fish in a little pond."

Flanagan has won every race by a margin of at least 25 seconds. She said she expects competition to get better as the season continues.

"This is a confidence-building stage so that when I get to the bigger competitions I won't be intimidated," Flanagan said.

Junior co-captain Kim Timberlake crossed the finish line in second place. Beth George, Whitney Weber, Jennie Sucher, Bobbie Munson and Stephanie Jilcott rounded out UNC's top finishers.

"We were trying to (run together) today," George said. "That's especially important in a smaller meet."

The men didn't win quite so easily, edging UNC-Charlotte by two points. And unlike the women, the men's team lacks consistency at the top. The UNC men had a different runner pull out in front for the third week in a row.

This week the lead belonged to sophomore Terrance McRae. He made his first top-10 appearance in fourth place with a time of 26:19.

"It was weird not to see any teammates ahead of me today," McRae said. "I felt like I had more energy, so I could push it more throughout the middle."

UNC coach Michael Whittlesey said McRae is just scratching the surface of what he can do physically.

"He really executed some things that he struggles at," Whittlesey said. "Hills are not his specialty -- he likes it flat a little better -- but he did a nice job executing on the hills to put himself in position."

Senior Nick Iauco claimed sixth place. He failed to finish in the top 10 in his first race and placed eighth last week.

UNC finished with more runners in the top 10 than it had in its past two races. Matt Weiss and Bobby Borbet claimed seventh and ninth place, respectively.

Sophomore Dash Victor was expected to become a mainstay up front after placing in the top 10 in his first two races. But Victor fell short of a top-10 finish.

"Keeping your head in the race is a big part of it and once you lose that focus, sometimes it's hard to get it back," Victor said. "That's what happened to me today."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.