For the North Carolina track and field team, it was a tale of two days.
In the Tobacco Road Multis — which gives pentathletes and heptathletes the rare opportunity to compete before the ACC Championship — the UNC men's team shined on Thursday before the women stole the show on Friday.
Much of the focus on the opening day was on redshirt junior Paul Haley, who won the heptathlon in the 2015 ACC Championship. Through four events, Haley ranked fourth after finishing the 60-meter dash in 7.30 seconds and clearing 1.96 meters in the high jump.
Sophomore Nick Futia also fared well in the heptathlon, finishing the day in seventh place after posting a 60-meter dash time of 7.56 and throwing 10.85 meters in the shot put.
On day two, the men's success came to a halt. Haley was unable to compete due to a tight hamstring, and Futia was disqualified in the 60-meter hurdles and did not finish the heptathlon.
But the women's team more than made up the difference.
Junior Emily Godwin finished in second place in the pentathlon, scoring the second-highest total in UNC history. Just trailing Godwin's effort was redshirt junior Tory Kemp, whose performance earned a third-place finish and ranked third in program history. Redshirt sophomore Brittany Hull finished in fifth place in her first career pentathlon.
Quotable
“The biggest thing I wanted out of our athletes was a rust-buster. It’s only the second meet of the year. The multi-event athletes don’t get an opportunity to compete often, and this was an opportunity.” — assistant head coach Josh Langley on the benefit of the meet for the Tar Heels.
