Cross Country Learns Lessons

Several former Tar Heel runners returned to Chapel Hill to compete in the UNC Challenge at the UNC Cross Country Course.

But they did more than just compete.

In fact, the UNC alumni edged out the Tar Heel men by two points to win the five-mile event, while North Carolina's women topped the second-place alumnae by 50 points in the 5,000-meter race.

"It's great to see them come back and come together and be a part of this meet," said UNC coach Michael Whittlesey of the former Tar Heel runners.

Virginia Commonwealth and Campbell finished third and fourth, respectively, in both the men's and women's races. UNC-Wilmington, St. Augustine and N.C. Central also participated in the meet.

On the men's side, VCU's Daniel Ndungu finished in 25 minutes, 32 seconds to take first place, and his teammate Pius Stucki placed second.

But unattached runner John Hinton had the most impressive performance of the day. The 39-year-old Hinton -- who was a part-time assistant cross country coach at UNC from 1985-89 -- finished third overall, averaging a 5:06 mile to finish eight seconds behind Ndungu.

"I was surprised because I didn't expect to be up that far in the front," Hinton said.

Hinton's name might sound new to some, but the Tar Heels have heard of him.

"He is like a local Chapel Hill legend," Dash Victor said. "It's great to see him out here."

Freshman Brian McGovern and senior Matt Weiss finished fifth and sixth, respectively, to lead North Carolina.

UNC sophomore Matt Sciandra took the early lead before fading back at the three-mile mark. Sciandra placed 28th in 26 minutes flat.

"The men did a much better job this weekend running as a team," Whittlesey said. "The alumni showed us a little bit more how to run as a team when they had a pack of four guys running abreast deep into the race."

Sophomore All-American Shalane Flanagan and freshman Carol Henry paced the Tar Heel women to an impressive first-place finish. The combo tied for the individual win with identical times of 17:20.30.

North Carolina placed seven runners in the top 10, and no Tar Heel finished below 19th in the 58-person field.

Flanagan and Henry jumped in front about a mile into the race and never looked back.

"I was expecting (Carol) as soon as she came in to be running with me," Flanagan said.

Flanagan shaved more than 20 seconds off her first-place time from last year's UNC Challenge.

Freshman Erin Donahue finished less than 14 seconds behind, good for fourth place. Unattached Beth Green placed third, and Campbell's Heather Lee finished fifth, followed by UNC's Liz Awtrey and Kim Timberlake.

Whittlesey said, "All the girls stepped up to the challenge this week and ran a great race."

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