UNC volleyball improves to 3-0 in ACC with wins against Maryland, Boston College
The weekend started slowly for the North Carolina women’s volleyball team. It didn’t take long for them to turn things around.
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The weekend started slowly for the North Carolina women’s volleyball team. It didn’t take long for them to turn things around.
North Carolina outside linebackers Bruce Carter and Quan Sturdivant play football with different styles. Both are essential to one of the best defenses in the NCAA.
Russell Wilson’s future could end up being in professional baseball. But this fall, N.C. State University will look to the redshirt junior to turn its football team around.
CARY — With a No. 3 seed and a first-round bye, No. 18 North Carolina men’s tennis entered the ACC Tournament with high expectations.One match was all it took for them to be shattered.The Tar Heels fell to No. 23 Wake Forest for the second time this season on Friday, making an early exit in the tournament’s quarterfinals after a 4-3 loss.“It was pretty disappointing for us,” said UNC senior Andrew Crone. “We all had the feeling that we had a chance to win ACCs, and that everything was going right. Wake Forest had a good team, but we thought we could get them.”North Carolina went ahead 1-0 early after taking the doubles point, but bad luck and sloppy play cost the Tar Heels in singles.UNC junior Stefan Hardy rolled his ankle on the first point of his match on court three and never recovered, losing a quick two-setter to opponent Iain Atkinson.Hardy said the injury would not prevent him from practicing or playing in the NCAA Tournament.After sophomore Brennan Boyajian lost his match in straight sets as well, UNC looked to its top player, senior Clay Donato, to get the team back on track.But after taking a commanding 5-0 third-set lead against Wake Forest’s Steven Forman, Donato fell apart, getting broken three straight times and dropping the next seven games to lose the match and put North Carolina in a 3-1 hole.“Clay was obviously playing good tennis and put himself in a good position,” UNC coach Sam Paul said. “But (Forman) picked it up and turned it on.”The Tar Heels bounced back to tie the match after victories by Crone and freshman Jose Hernandez.Crone was back in the singles lineup after sitting out the team’s last match at Florida State, and his singles win was his first in his last seven matches.“I’ve been playing well in doubles lately with Jose,” Crone said. “Having confidence in that and in singles just brought my game up. Unfortunately we didn’t win as a team, which is all that matters.”With a berth in the tournament semifinals at stake, the match came down to court five, where Tar Heel sophomore Cameron Ahari was battling Danny Kreyman in a back-and-forth third set.Ahari and Kreyman broke each other’s first two service games to open the set, then held serve until the set went to a tiebreaker.In the end it was Kreyman who came out on top, winning the tiebreaker 7-2 and the match for the Demon Deacons.Paul said he was impressed by his team’s heart despite the loss.“I think Cam had a great effort, I think Clay had a great effort, I think everyone had a great effort,” Paul said. “Now we just have to pack up and get ready for NCAAs.”Hardy said he thought the team would be able to regain its momentum by the NCAA Championships, which begin on May 14 for team competition.“We had a lot of chances to stick it to them and it was unfortunate that it went that way,” Hardy said. “We’ve just got to look at it and say that we were right there with them. We’re still getting better, and I think we’ll have reached the height of our abilities heading into the NCAA tournament.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
DURHAM — Up 5-4 in the final set of the deciding match against rival No. 14 Duke, North Carolina’s Jose Hernandez let out a scream of pain and frustration.The UNC freshman had leg cramps so severe that he could barely move around the court.The injury proved too much for Hernandez to overcome, and he finally fell in a third-set tiebreaker to Duke’s Reid Carleton, 7-5 .The No. 19 Tar Heels had been tied 3-3 against the Blue Devils, so Carleton’s 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 win also clinched the match for Duke.It was a gut-wrenching end to the day for North Carolina, which had seemed poised to take the match before Hernandez began to cramp up.The Tar Heels won the doubles point to jump out to a 1-0 lead. Senior Clay Donato and junior Stefan Hardy led the way with an upset win over Carleton and Henrique Cunha, the country’s top doubles pairing.“It was a big win for Clay and Stefan,” coach Sam Paul said. “They beat the No. 1 team in the country. That will help them a lot.”North Carolina and Duke split the first four singles matches. Hardy and Brennan Boyajian won on the third and fourth courts, while Zach Hunter and Andrew Crone fell at the bottom two spots.With UNC up 3-2, only Donato and Hernandez were left playing. Donato won the first set against Cunha, who is ranked No. 3 nationally, but could not hold on and fell in three sets, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.With two teams even, the pressure fell on Hernandez and Carleton’s shoulders.After the players split the first two sets, Hernandez took a 4-2 lead in the third.But trying to break Carleton to go up 5-2, Hernandez started to cramp and was forced to take an injury timeout.He resumed play, but his range of motion was severely limited, and he was forced to serve at a much lower velocity than normal.Hernandez had a chance to win the match up 5-4 but was broken after going up 30-0.Hobbling around the court during the tiebreaker, he still took a 5-2 lead. But Carleton scored the next five points to win the match.Paul did not allow his players to comment after the match but said Hernandez would be fine.He also said the team would do its best to move past the loss.“We’re just going to drink this in a little tonight,” he said. “We’ll have a nice dinner and then go back to work tomorrow.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
A mere 300 feet from Duke University’s Cameron Indoor Stadium, across from the quad where Krzyzewskiville forms every winter, lies the lesser-known Ambler Tennis Stadium.This afternoon, Ambler, not Cameron, will be the site of the newest UNC-Duke rivalry match when the No. 19 North Carolina men’s tennis team takes on the No. 20 Blue Devils at 3 p.m.For North Carolina seniors Clay Donato and Andrew Crone, it will be the last regular-season opportunity to take down the Blue Devils.“It’s going to be exciting to get in there and play one of our rivals,” Crone said. “They’re having a good season, and so are we, so this time is special for us.”UNC currently sits in third place in the ACC with a 6-2 conference record. Duke is second, one game ahead of the Tar Heels with a conference record of 7-1.That means a win against Duke today would jump North Carolina over the Blue Devils and into second place in the conference based on the head-to-head matchup.UNC coach Sam Paul said it was important for the team to look at the Duke match the same as any other despite the teams’ rivalry.“We’ll control the things that we can control, not so much looking at them and playing them specifically,” Paul said. “We’re going to do the things that we do well and bring it. It’s Duke, but it’s still just another ACC match.”Donato, as he has all season, will lead the Tar Heels’ effort against Duke and will have a daunting task ahead of him.He will likely be matched up against Henrique Cunha in singles, who is currently ranked No. 11 in the country and has won against each of the nation’s top four players this season.In doubles, Donato will face another uphill battle along with partner Stefan Hardy. Donato and Hardy are ranked No. 17 overall but will be facing the No. 3 doubles pairing in Cunha and Reid Carleton.The Tar Heels suffered a 5-2 loss to the Blue Devils last season in which four of the current UNC starters participated.Of the four, only Donato won a singles match, defeating Carleton on the top singles court. The other three — Crone, Brennan Boyajian and Zach Hunter — all fell in their singles contests.Crone also lost in doubles, but Boyajian and Hunter, playing together on the third court, did win their doubles match, as did Donato and partner Taylor Fogleman on court one.Crone said the team is focused only on today’s match and will be ready to go this afternoon.“To beat Duke, we have to try to get some rest and go in fresh,” Crone said. “We need to get ready mentally so everyone can stay on top of everything.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
For North Carolina men’s tennis, Sunday’s Senior Day win was bittersweet.On one hand, the No. 19 Tar Heels took down No. 24 Georgia Tech and dropped only two of the six singles matches.On the other, the two UNC seniors, Clay Donato and Andrew Crone, were the Tar Heels who lost.Donato and Crone each dropped their singles matches — Crone for the fifth straight time. He last won at Boston College on March 27.Donato pushed the country’s No. 4 player, Guillermo Gomez, to the brink of defeat, but lost a third-set tiebreaker to fall 6-1, 4-6, 7-6. He declined to be interviewed after the difficult loss.Crone stressed that the seniors’ individual losses meant little in comparison to what he said was a key win for North Carolina.“It was really a team effort today, which is important,” Crone said. “We’re all excited for Senior Day. Me and Clay lost, but we were pretty important for the doubles point, which was big to gain the momentum going into singles.”The Tar Heels won the doubles point to open the day. Donato and Stefan Hardy won on court one, and Crone and Jose Hernandez won on court three.“I’m really proud of the seniors,” UNC coach Sam Paul said. “Those two guys have been through a lot. They were a big part of the win even though they came up short in singles.”Donato’s singles match was the last home match of his stellar career at North Carolina. Donato earned back-to-back all-ACC honors in 2008 and 2009, and was named an All-American last year.Donato also reached the 2009 NCAA Doubles Championship semifinals with now-graduated partner Taylor Fogleman, and he and Hardy are currently ranked the No. 17 doubles pairing in the nation.“We’ve been riding Clay’s back all year. He’s got a tough assignment, and I think he played some of his best tennis today,” Paul said. “It could have gone either way. The fans saw it, and it doesn’t get any better than that.”Crone has started for the Tar Heels since his junior year, mainly rotating between the third and fourth courts in 2009 and fifth and sixth courts in 2010.Crone said it was a memorable day for him and Donato despite their singles losses.“It was pretty meaningful to me, and I know it was to Clay,” Crone said. “It was the last regular season match at home, the fan support was unbelievable and it was just really special out here.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
It’s hard to win two softball games with only nine combined hits.
North Carolina’s pitchers were worn out by Sunday’s game against N.C. State, and the team’s bats were unable to provide enough support to get the job done.The No. 19 UNC softball team dropped the rubber game of a three-game series, falling 5-1 to the unranked Wolfpack.UNC and N.C. State split the series’ first two games in a doubleheader on Saturday. The Tar Heels dropped the first game 3-2, then took the second game by the same score.Senior Danielle Spaulding made her second consecutive start for North Carolina after pitching 5 1/3 innings to get the win on Saturday. She went just 1 2/3 innings and gave up a run Sunday before being relieved by Amber Johnson. Spaulding was sore from Saturday’s start, and also had a hand injury that caused shooting pains and made gripping the ball difficult. Both were reasons for her shortened appearance, UNC associate head coach Beverly Smith said.“It’s definitely a time issue,” Spaulding said of her injury. “The bad thing about that is I don’t have time to sit out and not do anything.”Johnson, who has seen her workload increase with Spaulding’s injury, pitched the rest of the game for the Tar Heels. She ran into trouble in the fourth inning, loading the bases with no outs and a run already scored. By the time the frame was over, the Wolfpack had put three runs on the board. “She’s had to gut out some performances,” Smith said. “I felt lucky we got out of there with just three.” Spaulding said she was trying to do as much as possible to give Johnson a rest, but was in a lot of pain after Saturday’s outing. She had trouble commanding her pitches on Sunday because of it.“She’s pitched so many games to make up for my lot and me not being there, and it definitely takes a toll on the body,” Spaulding said.Johnson also allowed a solo home run to Allison Presnell in the fifth inning for the Wolfpack’s final run.On the other side, N.C. State starting pitcher Lindsay Campana frustrated Tar Heel hitters all day, going the full seven innings while holding North Carolina to one unearned run and three hits.And of those three Tar Heel hits, not a single one made it out of the infield. “Campana has an excellent drop ball and I think it fooled us a little,” Smith said. “She pitched a great game against us and we just couldn’t get enough going offensively.” Johnson and Spaulding combined to pitch every inning over the two-day series. Johnson pitched all seven innings in the first game, then earned the save in relief of Spaulding in game two. Spaulding, two-time ACC Player of the Year, started both the second and third games, tossing for seven innings in total.Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
Even after winning his match, North Carolina freshman Jose Hernandez didn’t leave the court.
With the nickname “Shake,” it seems like Kyle Baker would have no problem shaking off pressure.But in his tennis match against Navy, the North Carolina junior was having a hard time finishing off his opponent.“I don’t think I necessarily played my best,” Baker said. “But I’m really glad I got the opportunity to get out there and play for my team.”Baker was the last Tar Heel on the court; every other match had already concluded.As things got tense, Baker’s teammates — who gave him the nickname for a dance he does before every match — stood behind him and cheered him on.Baker played for the first time all season Thursday. He finally closed out his opponent 10-6 in a super tiebreaker which took the place of a full third set.Baker started out strong, winning his first set 6-4. But he blew a 5-2 lead in the second set and was forced into the super tiebreaker before he pulled out the win.Between key points, Baker would shout, “Go Heels!” to himself and his teammates to stay calm.“I kind of had a little bit of a letdown and didn’t stay on top of my game, and I let him slide back in it a little,” Baker said. “After the second-set tie break, I had to refocus.”UNC coach Sam Paul said Baker’s level of play fluctuated during the match despite his ultimate victory.“He played well, but he could have finished the match better,” Paul said. “He did some good things toward the middle of the match and got up pretty comfortably, but I think he should have closed it out a little quicker than he did.”Baker has been forced to play a limited role during his time at North Carolina, having struggled with injuries throughout his playing career. He has undergone two surgeries on his wrist and one on his groin.Some features of his game are a reflection of his nagging injuries. Baker said he is forced to use a choppy “abbreviated serving motion” because of shoulder problems.“It’s modeled a little after Andy Roddick’s serve,” Baker said. “But it’s mainly just to ease the stress on my shoulder.”Baker said he was a little rusty after a long stretch without any actual match experience, but that this was no excuse for not sustaining good play.“There was a little bit of nerves, but it doesn’t mean a lot to you if there’s not,” he said. “The nerves are what make you good and what make it so fun to be out there.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
The North Carolina women’s golf team is coming off a career year, but new coach Jan Mann still has her work cut out for her.Mann, who coached at UNC-Wilmington from 1994 to 2002 and at Virginia from 2002 to 2007, inherits a team that placed seventh at the NCAA Championship last spring, the best finish in UNC history.But three starters from that team are gone, and the current roster includes two freshmen and a transfer student from Auburn.“We did lose three starters and we do have to fill those spots, but the team has really stepped up,” Mann said. “I am certainly confident that we will make it through regionals and on to the NCAAs. With the talent on this team, we have the opportunity to go far.”The only senior on the team is Kate Thomas, a four-year UNC starter who Mann called one of the best ball-strikers she has ever seen.“What I bring to the table is leadership by example,” Thomas said. “But I also give people pushes when it needs to be done, and I’m there when they want me to be.”Sophomore Catherine O’Donnell, who was named a team co-captain, is also ready to be a leader.“Some people are made to do it and some aren’t, and it comes naturally to me,” O’Donnell said. “I’ve traveled and been successful, so people look up to me because I’ve done it before.”Mann said she believed that with the help of their veteran teammates, the less experienced players would be able to significantly contribute to the team.“It will be difficult to play as well at nationals because of the younger team,” Thomas said. “But I also believe it can be done.”In the end, Mann said, the early growing pains of the young Tar Heels shouldn’t hurt them too much. The ACC Championship, NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championship will be the only tournaments that matter.“We certainly want to do well in everything else for the rankings,” Mann said. “But those are the ultimate three tournaments right there.”
Correction (Feb. 9 1:09 a.m.): An earlier version of this story included an incorrect photo and caption. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
Despite data showing a national decrease in the number of new homes being built, the Chapel Hill housing market might be improving.In October, housing starts dropped countrywide after gradually trending upward since January. The number of units started fell about 11 percent from September, according to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report released last week. The number is also down about 31 percent from October 2008.Local realtors and developers cited a government tax credit for home buyers as a main reason for the market’s recent growth. The credit was set to expire Nov. 30, until the U.S. Senate voted to extend its availability through April.Roger Perry, president of real estate development company East West Partners and a UNC trustee, said the national drop in housing starts may be explained by the credit’s potential expiration and may be a blip in the overall trend.“Demand is driven by the job situation,” he said. “The number one determiner of what the market is like is job growth, not housing starts.” Employment in Orange County grew less than 1 percent from August to September, to 64,311 people.Scott Kovens, owner of both Kovens Construction and Capkov Ventures, said the tax credit is essential to sustained growth in the real estate market.“Most business lately has been first-time buyers who never would have gotten into the market without the credit,” he said. “They really need and deserve this tax credit.”Kovens also said the decrease in starts could be a blessing.“We need to be cautious not to overbuild. Having excess inventory hurts everybody down the chain,” he said. “Less housing starts could be a good sign that people are proceeding with caution.”With most of that excess inventory having been cleared out, housing starts will likely increase again over the next year, Perry said.Meadowmont Realty owner and broker Clarence Lupton, who hosted four open houses on Sunday, said the stability of the local economy will help the housing market continue to progress.Palo Alto, Calif., resident Ken Scott, who toured one of Lupton’s open houses, said economic conditions would not substantially impact his decision to buy a new house.“We’ve been in the same place for 28 years, and the economy’s changed many times,” Scott said. “We’re ready to move.”Kovens said Chapel Hill is a prime area for economic recovery.“This community is not artificially sustained. An automobile plant might close, but the University and the hospitals won’t,” he said. “Here, people can have the confidence to move forward.” Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
For Kevin Bailey, Friday night’s wheelchair basketball game at the Smith Center was more than a 10-minute scrimmage.Bailey fell off a roof in 1996 — the year after he graduated from UNC — and was paralyzed below the chest.Friday, he was back at his alma mater, playing at halftime of the UNC-Belmont Abbey exhibition game. The last time he was on the court was as a student fan celebrating a win, he said.“This was definitely not just another event,” he said. “To actually be on the court instead of watching from the stands was incredible. There’s just no other way to describe it.”During the game, the players did the same things as able-bodied athletes: made layups, launched shots from outside, jostled for position in the lane.The crowd reacted to every made basket, every in-and-out and every fast break, just as it did for UNC.“It was the fulfillment of a dream to be on the floor playing,” said Ashley Thomas, executive director of Bridge II Sports, which organized the event. “We were so thrilled to be able to do this.”Eleven wheelchair basketball players from the Carolina Wheelchair Basketball Conference were picked to participate by Bridge II Sports, which links people in wheelchairs with athletic opportunities.The scrimmage was coached by Justin Kiley, whose father, Dave, earned nine Paralympic gold medals in basketball, skiing and racing.The players represented all levels of experience. Mike Atkins, who co-founded the team he plays for in 1992, and Timothy Corbett, now the commissioner of the Carolina Conference, are 17-year wheelchair basketball veterans. Sean Burns and Akeem Hassell are high-schoolers playing up.“Just to see all the blue, the fans so into it, was a special experience,” Corbett said. “It was an honor to play on the court where Jordan played, where ’Sheed played, where my heroes played.”Fellow player Daniel Moody was equally impressed.“It was like playing in the Holy Land,” he said.The scrimmage was refereed by Raymond Miller, who has officiated wheelchair basketball for more than 12 years, including two National Wheelchair Basketball Association championships and the 1996 Paralympic Games.“These are some phenomenal athletes,” Miller said. “They’ve beaten a lot of pros in these chairs. It’s always a pleasure to be in their company.”Bailey was still in the hospital when a therapist asked him about playing wheelchair basketball.“I grew up playing basketball,” he said. “It made sense to keep going, even in a chair.”He said the chair skills were hard to learn at first and took some time to develop.Dribbling, for example, requires quickly alternating between bouncing the ball and pushing the wheelchair. Going three pushes without dribbling is a traveling violation.“People think they can’t do the same things, but it’s the same rules, the same game, just in a chair,” Kiley said.“But you could see how many people were out there cheering. We were showing them we can do whatever they can do.” Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
The first wave of ballots is in. But the significance of larger early voting numbers is still up for debate.Almost twice as many people voted early this year than during the last municipal election in 2007 — 2,345 compared to 1,271, said Tracy Reams, the Orange County Board of Elections director.This election’s hotly contested races may be the reason for the overall increase in votes, Reams said.But voter turnout is still low relative to presidential elections.In the 2008 race, 75,194 people voted, including 51,961 early, for a total turnout of 71 percent of registered voters, Reams said.Reams said she hopes for a 20 percent turnout this election, but even that may be unlikely.There are 70,143 registered voters this year, which means a 20 percent turnout would require more than 14,000 ballots to be cast. With the 2,345 early votes, almost 11,700 Election Day votes would be needed to reach Reams’ target. In the last municipal election, 8,525 people voted on Election Day, Reams said.Reams said she could not predict what the early voting results indicated for Tuesday.“In 2008, we knew numbers would be high just because there were so many early voters,” she said. “But it’s hard to tell when the early numbers are low. Will there then be a high percentage on Election Day? Or will it just not be high at all?”Suepinda Keith, an election official at the Morehead Planetarium early voting location, said although she was pleased with the turnout, it could be a negative sign for Tuesday.“One-stop (voting) correlates to a decline in Election Day crowds,” she said. “People see it as more convenient, so they decide to vote early instead of on Election Day. That takes away from the number of Election Day voters.”But she said she thinks the recent presidential race will keep people involved and engaged and more likely to vote in the municipal elections.People were able to vote early at Morehead Planetarium, Carrboro Town Hall or the Board of Elections Conference Room in Hillsborough.There were 1,308 ballots cast at the planetarium, 904 in Carrboro and 133 in Hillsborough, compared to 572, 564, and 135, respectively, in 2007, Reams said.Early voting for Orange County municipal elections ended at 1 p.m. Saturday and was completed over three intervals: October 15-16, 19-23 and 26-31. There is no difference between an early voting ballot and an Election Day ballot. All ballots are sealed and will not be opened until polling places close Tuesday night, Reams said.On Tuesday, registered voters must use their designated polling places, which are determined by the precinct in which they live and can be found on their voter cards. Voting at a polling place other than the one they have been assigned is not permitted.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
Chapel Hill and Carrboro will be rewarded for being green.At the end of the month, the N.C. League of Municipalities will recognize the towns for meeting the goals of its Green Challenge.The challenge awards points to towns which submit their environmentally friendly programs to the league for review.Both will receive Advanced Level recognition, the highest possible designation. About 40 cities will receive either intermediate or advanced recognition this year.Efforts toward a more sustainable community continue. At the Board of Aldermen meeting tonight, environmental awareness group N.C. Powerdown Triangle Peak Oil will evaluate Carrboro’s long-term sustainability plan.Town officials listed several initiatives they said helped earn them Green Challenge recognition:Fare-Free TransitLocal fare-free transit is a combined effort by Chapel Hill, Carrboro and UNC to pay the cost of transit and encourage people to use it instead of personal vehicles.“Fare-free transit is a very distinctive, uncommon type of program,” said Margot Christensen, League of Municipalities spokeswoman. “It reduces the number of cars on the road and lowers the pollution and environmental impacts from traffic congestion.”Green FleetChapel Hill purchases fuel-efficient vehicles for government use through its Green Fleets policy.The town also buys vehicles that can use alternative fuels like biodiesel or natural gas, said Chapel Hill sustainability officer John Richardson.Tree PreservationBoth towns have ordinances and a budget in place for tree protection, preservation and planting, town officials said.Each town has also been named a “Tree City USA” by the Arbor Day Foundation. LightingThe two towns both earned points for their lighting policies — Carrboro for its energy-saving Dark Sky lighting ordinance and Chapel Hill for LED street lighting which runs along the 100 block of East Franklin Street.“We’re trying to focus more on conserving energy and exploring ways to lower energy consumption,” Richardson said. Waste ManagementBoth Chapel Hill and Carrboro work on communitywide curbside recycling and waste management.Their policies well exceed state requirements, said Carrboro planning administrator Patricia McGuire.“Believe it or not, not all municipalities have that,” Richardson said.Christensen said both towns are well-deserving of the recognition.“Chapel Hill and Carrboro are both cities who are very active in looking for ways to save both money and energy at the same time,” she said. “They both set very fine examples.”Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
State law requires stopping for pedestrians at crosswalks. But late Sunday afternoon, a boy sat on his bike waiting to use a crosswalk on North Greensboro Street as car after car passed by. He’s not the only one. Local residents and town officials point to three Carrboro crosswalks that have recently posed problems for pedestrians, which might lead to a full review of pedestrian safety in the town.Carrboro resident Daniel Westreich voiced his concerns in an e-mail to Mayor Mark Chilton and the Board of Aldermen, identifying the crosswalks where East Poplar Avenue, Short Street and Shelton Street intersect North Greensboro Street as the most dangerous.He said he was especially concerned about safety after recently becoming a father.“I’ll be pushing my son in a stroller, obviously waiting to use the crosswalk, and five cars will speed through it,” Westreich said. “No one would have to wait very long to see something like that happen.”Alderman Dan Coleman notified Charlie Hileman, chairman of the town’s Transportation Advisory Board, who said the board is already analyzing the crosswalks.“We discuss it at almost every meeting, the first and third Thursday of every month,” Hileman said. “That whole area is bad, especially near town. Cars don’t stop and it’s hard to expect pedestrians to test them in any way.”Coleman and Hileman both said that cars fail to stop far too often. “If you go out to those crosswalks and try to cross even a few times, you’ll see just how bad it is,” Hileman said.He added that traffic conditions will worsen in the near future with the construction of Carolina North, the University’s future mixed-use satellite campus.Hileman said the transportation board has discussed moving or raising the crosswalks, eliminating extraneous road signs and installing a stoplight or light that flashes when walkers push a button.But the power to make changes lies almost exclusively with the N.C. Department of Transportation, Coleman said.“Historically, the DOT is more focused on the movement of automobiles than pedestrian usage,” Coleman said. “We can advocate for what we see as the best design of roads in Carrboro, and the DOT will certainly listen to us. They just may not agree with us.”What the town may be able to do is implement an enforcement and education campaign for drivers, who Hileman said often appear not to know the law.“We can work with the police department to put people on notice that the law will be enforced,” he said.Hileman also said the town may issue public service announcements about crosswalk safety and crosswalk laws.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
Four Carrboro High School football players were injured during their game against Chapel Hill High School last Friday. Tommy Barr was there, ready to help all of them out.Barr is Carrboro High’s new athletic trainer, the first full-time trainer in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district. He is the school’s primary sports medicine professional, responsible for everything from administrative duties to dealing with on-the-field injuries.“I’m basically the link between the medical community and the athletic community,” Barr said. “People come in for ankle and knee sprains, but they also come in complaining about the sniffles — the common cold. Athletic trainers do a lot more than tape ankles.”Before coming to Carrboro, Barr held coaching and part-time training jobs, including at California’s De La Salle High School, whose football team won a record 151 games in a row from 1992 to 2003.He was hired this semester and immediately went to work monitoring the football team’s practices, dealing with a significant abdominal injury, a dislocated kneecap and a concussion in his first 10 days. Last summer, Atlas Fraley, a Chapel Hill High School football player, died after a scrimmage. He had been complaining of dehydration. His autopsy did not determine a cause for his death.Barr said that although the incident has raised awareness of proper hydration, it played at most a minor role in Carrboro’s switch to a full-time trainer. Part- and full-time trainers have the same license, so they are equally qualified.The main benefit of a full-time trainer is the added time on the job, he said. “I don’t have to worry about getting grades in or going to teaching workshops,” Barr said. “Spreading someone too thin prevents them from doing as many things.” Ben Reed, Chapel Hill High School’s trainer, agreed. Reed teaches physical education at Chapel Hill High and took over as head trainer in 1996.A major part of the job, he said, is educating about dehydration.After that, both trainers said, it is simply a matter of providing sufficient water to athletes, making sure they take water breaks and monitoring local weather conditions.“Part-time/full-time is really a matter of semantics,” Reed said. “I’m not really a ‘part-time’ trainer. When school ends, I’m full-time.”Still, Reed said he leaves as soon as possible after football games, having put in a full day’s work even before the Friday night lights went on.“If I was to be at every single practice and event, I’d be at school 12 hours a day, five days a week.”Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
The local economy might be struggling, but UNC football is going strong. The Touch Downtown program hopes to transfer that success to the community by promoting downtown shopping on game days.Touch Downtown, which started last year, aims to maximize the town’s economic benefits from UNC football weekends by encouraging fans to not only watch the game, but also visit downtown Chapel Hill’s stores and restaurants.Its new marketing campaign is much more aggressive than last year’s.“With the economy the way it is, it’s important for businesses to take advantage of every opportunity,” said Patty Griffin, spokeswoman for the Chapel Hill and Orange County Visitors Bureau.“You can’t assume full hotels or restaurants. If we have a packed stadium, we want those people to be eating, staying, and shopping.”The program, which has the slogan “come early and stay late,” is the combined effort of the bureau, the town of Chapel Hill, local business organizations and University athletic programs.Touch Downtown’s publicity push includes a revamped Web site, magazine ads, radio promotions, street banners and e-mail blasts.The big addition to the program is a list, brainstormed by local business leaders and sent out to businesses, suggesting tactics for profit maximization on game days.The suggestions include hanging balloons and flags, offering game day specials and face painting.“We want to see if businesses are more successful on game day Saturdays than in the past,” said Rick Steinbacher, UNC’s associate athletic director for marketing and promotion. “We can get immediate qualitative evidence, but the real proof is in the numbers.”Last fall’s UNC-Notre Dame game generated $6.4 million for businesses and $325,000 in taxes, Griffin said. But the numbers aren’t in yet to show the impact of this year’s new marketing strategies.It was marketing, however, that drew John Burke to the Shrunken Head Boutique on Saturday.“It’s been great,” said Burke, who drove in from Lexington for the UNC-ECU game. “The kids love coming to Franklin Street, seeing the people, checking out the merchandise.”The Shrunken Head Boutique incorporated many strategies listed in the letter, including hanging a banner and giving away UNC buttons and tattoos.“We do our best to make all our customers feel at home,” said employee James McCleary, who dresses like a UNC carny, a ringmaster in Carolina blue, on game days.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.