This past Thursday through Saturday, the North Carolina outdoor track and field team attended the ACC Outdoor Championships. The UNC men finished fifth and the women finished ninth.
What happened?
After the first day of competition at the ACC Outdoor Championships, both UNC’s women and men were situated in second place.
Graduates Jill Shippee and Madison Wiltrout both earned gold in their respective events on Thursday. In the women’s hammer, Shippee earned gold for the third time as a UNC student, 222-9 (67.91m). This makes Shippee the first woman to win ACC gold in this event three times in a row. In the women’s javelin, with a throw of 196-11, Wiltrout broke multiple records to earn gold as well. Not only did her throw set the UNC program record and ACC record, but it was the 10th-furthest throw in this event in NCAA history.
In the women’s 200-meter prelims, redshirt senior Anna Keefer finished in fourth place on Thursday. She ran an all-conditions personal record of 23.18 to advance to the 200-meter final. That same day she also took second in the women’s long jump final, with a distance of 6.40 meters.
Senior James Joycey and graduate Alex Ostberg also earned silver in their respective events on Thursday. Joycey improved upon last year’s third-place finish with his silver in the men’s hammer finals, with a heave of 221-2 (67.41m). In the men’s 10k, Ostberg set a personal best and school-record time of 28:49:36 to place second.
On Friday, the North Carolina men remained in second place while the UNC women dropped to fifth place.
To headline the second day of action, sophomore Isaac Young and junior Sam Corley both placed within the top five of the men’s decathlon. Young’s personal-best 7173 points earned him silver, while Corley’s 7014 points gave him a fifth-place finish.
Along with Young, senior Roman Mitchell also medaled on Friday. His personal-best score of 71.54m (234-8) earned him a silver medal in the men’s javelin event.
