DURHAM — North Carolina’s Reggie Berry slid his feet into the starting blocks and waited for the start gun to sound.
The gun fired. And then it went off again — signaling a false start.
But Berry calmly stepped back into the starting blocks and waited again.
His patience and focus paid off, as the freshman won his heat in the 400-meter hurdles and eventually placed 13th overall with a time of 53.51 seconds at the Duke Invitational on Saturday.
“I ran very ugly, but I ran fast,” said Berry. “I mean, the difference is running a smooth race might have shaved another a couple of tenths of a seconds off, or maybe I would’ve broken 52 (seconds). The only reason I ran as fast as I did was I was sprinting like all get out the last 200.”
The Tar Heels overall had a strong showing at Wallace Wade Stadium in their fourth outdoor meet of the season. The meet focused mostly on individuals, as the competitors came from a variety of schools from around the country.
North Carolina's Lindsay Bond finished first in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 59.97, which was good enough to qualify for the NCAA Regionals.
Tar Heels Noah Cosby and Jared O’Connor led the men’s field events by placing 1-2 in the pole vault. In the women’s pole vault, UNC’s Rhian Jenks and Tatyana Kirichenko placed second and third, respectively.
North Carolina’s men’s 1,600-meter relay team won a tight race against Coppin State with a time of 7:35.22, while the women’s 400- meter relay team got disqualified because of a faulty handoff.
