ACC tournaments on the menu for track and field, women's tennis

Track and field Following a laundry list of top performances on Saturday, the North Carolina track and field teams come into this weekend with their sights set on ACC outdoor glory. The Tar Heels will enter competition today in Atlanta hoping to improve on their ACC indoor marks, which saw the UNC men take home fourth place and the women finish tied for a distant second. Many of the UNC athletes have been training for their events since September. Given the immense amount of physical preparation, head coach Dennis Craddock is simply aiming to make sure his team is confident and relaxed enough to put their skills to good use. "As my daddy used to say, 'The hay is in the barn,'" Craddock joked. On the men's side, Craddock looks for especially strong performances in the throws and jumps. During last weekend's Tony Waldrop Invitational, UNC freshman Walter Henning registered a hammer throw of 72.27 meters, over 17 meters past his nearest competition. In addition to Henning, the Tar Heels are counting on senior Ian Reynolds to bolster their effort in the shot put. The real tipping point for the men's success might come down to their leaping ability. Sophomore Donte Nall will be pivotal. Coming off of a first-place finish in the ACC indoor high jump and a jump of 7 feet 2.5 inches last week, Nall has set a lofty goal of 7 feet 5 inches for himself in Atlanta. Nall will also compete alongside freshman Austin Davis in the triple jump. Davis, who took second in the indoor triple jump, will pull double duty, himself, when he takes aim at the long jump title. Boasting depth in nearly every event, the UNC women will try to use strong performances across the board to capture the 15th outdoor championship in school history. Junior Brie Felnagle, 2007 ACC Outdoor champion in the 800 and 1,500 meter runs, will probably compete in multiple events again this year. Senior and national champion Tyra Johnson will look to improve on her second place, All-ACC finish in the indoor 200 meter dash. Felnagle and Johnson, however, are just two of numerous UNC women likely to score big this weekend. "For the women we've almost got somebody good in every event," Craddock said. "We've put ourselves in position to win." -Compiled by John Dougherty Women's tennis After a subpar performance in a 5-2 loss at Duke on April 8, No. 13 North Carolina (16-7) rolled through both ACC schools from its northern neighbor last weekend. The team notched a pair of 6-1 victories against Virginia and Virginia Tech and looks to be back on track at the most important time of the season. "We really learned a lot and improved a lot in a lot of areas, and I think that's given us a lot of confidence going into this weekend," coach Brian Kalbas said. "We're in a great mindset going into the tournament." No. 5 seed UNC takes on 12th-seeded Maryland at 9 a.m. today in Altamonte Springs, Fla., in the ACC tournament. If the Tar Heels win, as they did against the Terrapins in the regular season, they'll face fourth-seeded Clemson in Friday's quarterfinals. The Tigers fell 4-3 in the regular season meeting in one of UNC's most tightly contested matches of the year. Even though the tournament will end with the crowning of a conference champion, it likely won't be the last time UNC faces an ACC opponent this year. The Tar Heels have met five ACC teams in the past three NCAA tournaments, and this year looks to be no different as several conference foes are set to make a run in the tournament. The ACC has the most teams of any conference in the national top 25 with six, including the reigning NCAA champion, No. 2 Georgia Tech. Only the PAC-10, with four out of the top 10 teams, could pose a legitimate challenge. "The talent and depth of the conference is one of the best, or maybe even the best," Kalbas said. - Compiled by Joe McLean