UNC aims to reach NCAAs

For the collegiate athletes at the UNC Invitational, the main goal was to post a good enough time, distance or height to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

The North Carolina track and field team came to the meet with those intentions, but few were able to qualify this early in the season.

“We’ve shown a lot of improvement this past week,” said UNC coach Dennis Craddock. “We’re moving along nicely. I don’t judge our success on how many records we break.”

On the first day of competition, Georgia Kloss placed first in the 400-meter run but failed to meet the NCAA qualifying mark with her time of 57.23 seconds.

Sheldon Rivens placed second in the long jump with a leap of 7.22 meters, and Laura Gerraughty was third in the weight throw with a toss of 20.58 meters, good for automatic NCAA qualification.

The men’s A and B distance medley relay teams placed first and second respectively in 10 minutes, 12.71 seconds and 10:18.51.

The UNC women also won the DMR, posting a time of 11:41.96

“It was a warm-up,” said junior Danielle Rodgers, who was on the winning DMR team. “We’re getting ready to run the DMR next week, so it was like a trial thing. We’re trying to qualify for nationals.”

The women’s team’s time was almost 15 seconds off the provisional qualifying time, but Craddock said there is still a chance that the team can hit the mark.

“In order to be good in a relay you have to have everyone on top of their game,” Craddock said.

“Sometimes that’s a little bit tough to do, but I think they have a good chance of going to nationals.”

The race turned out to be a warm-up for two more wins for Rodgers on day two of the meet.

She claimed first place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:12.68, an indoor personal record, and was followed by Cassie King in second with 2:16.68.

Rodgers was also a member of the winning 4x400 relay team.

Craddock said he was not surprised by Rodgers’ performance.

“Danielle is an excellent athlete; it’s not unexpected,” Craddock said. “She knows when to go to war.”

Tom Falvey also came through with a win on day two in the mile. His time of 4:19.64 was good enough to beat teammate Pablo Durana, who finished with a time of 4:23.77.

Durana led the race for six laps, but Falvey turned it up with two laps to go, passing Durana and opening up a gap for the win.

“Pablo went out a little too fast,” Craddock said of the race. “(Falvey) has a lot of talent. He had the heart and the desire to win.”

Also on day two, Kloss (57.23), Colleen Farley (58.35) and Lindsay Bond (58.73) were first, fourth and sixth, respectively, in the 400-meter dash.

Phabienne Parker was third in the triple jump at 37 feet, 3.75 inches, John Hubbard was third in the high jump at 6-09.05, and Nicole Boykin won the 5000-meter run in 17:52.14.

The women claimed their last victory of the day in the 4x400 after a long day of competition.

“You just think one last race, then you can go home,” Rodgers said of the long wait for the final event.

“Staying focused,” she said. “That’s the most important thing.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.