UNC qualifies for at-large NCAA bid

Strong finishes by several North Carolina athletes at the NCAA Region III Championship sealed the women's cross country team's ticket to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind.

UNC finished third overall, behind Duke and N.C. State. The top two teams automatically qualified for the NCAA competition, and UNC received an at-large bid to the national meet.

Junior Carol Henry captured first place in the 6K race with a time of 19 minutes, 57.5 seconds, just ahead of senior Erin Donohue (20:07.4).

The victory was Henry's first career cross country win as a college athlete.

She placed fourth at the 2001 NCAA Southeast Regional before sitting out the entire 2002 season with an ankle injury. Henry came back to place second in last year's regional meet.

"I was pretty excited," Henry said. "I've never won a cross country meet, so this win ranks pretty high. Erin and I have been running together all season. We were out there to run hard and just get out there in front and run together."

Henry and Donohue took an early lead Saturday running almost side by side, a strategy the pair has used throughout the season to stay ahead of other runners and pace each other.

"It felt almost like practice," Donohue said. "I know I felt real strong the whole way, and it went right according to plan."

One thing that did not go according to plan was the team's strategy to tighten its pack and snag the overall win from Duke, who also bested the Tar Heels at ACC Championships and captured its first-ever conference title.

"We had a tough time getting our number four and five runners in, so that's why we couldn't beat out Duke and N.C. State," Donohue said.

"But hopefully next Monday we'll be able to get everybody together and place a lot higher at NCAAs."

Three of Duke's top runners were notably absent at the meet, as they rested for nationals.

Shannon Rowbury, Sally Meyerhoff and Phebe Ko did not compete after contributing to the upset win against the defending ACC champion Tar Heels. Meyerhoff finished first, ahead of Henry and Donohue, at the conference meet.

"Going into the race, I was really disappointed that Duke decided not to really take the race seriously and put all of their best runners in there," Donohue said.

"I think we were looking to show that we could compete with them and beat (Duke)."

Saturday's race might not have been a challenge for Henry and Donohue, but the team will reconvene with Duke's top runners as well as many other high-caliber athletes at the national competition Monday.

The Tar Heels plan to regroup and take the same approach for the national competition it had for regionals.

"I think everything looks good for the team," Donohue said. "We just need to pull our pack up a little bit further and make sure they all are comfortable and have a good race, so we can finish high as a team."

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.