May 30, 2008

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The North Carolina track and field teams opened the East Regional on Friday in Tallahassee, Fla. with a pair of second place finishes as Donte Nall placed second in the high jump and Joceyln White finished second in the discus. Junior Brie Felnagle earned a pair of qualifying on times on Friday along with several other Tar Heels. The East Regional concludes on Saturday.

Donte Nall opened the first day of the East Regional with a stellar performance in the high jump as he cleared 7-2.5 to earn eight points and a second place finish. Nall's top leap came on his final attempt at 7-2.5 while Princeton's Justin Frick cleared the height on his first attempt to claim the regional title. The mark equals the best of Nall's career as he eclipsed 7-2.5 twice earlier in the year.

Senior Jocelyn White delivered eight points on the women's side as she earned second place in the discus throw with a toss of 170-11. White's throw was less than five feet shy of first place. Freshman Mary Angell placed 20th in the event with a top throw of 146-03. Fellow thrower, Ian Reynolds, finished 22nd in the shot put with a throw of 51-11.00.

Austin Davis fell just shy of scoring in the long jump as he cleared 24-1 equaling Brian Chibudu but Chibudu earned the eighth place point as his second best jump eclipsed Davis' mark. Edward Baldwin III turned in a 15th place showing as he cleared 23-6.75 on the day. Freshman Brian Moore placed 19th in the javelin throw as he tallied a top throw of 192-03.

Friday was prelims day in Tallahassee as several Tar Heels were in action competing to earn a spot in one of many Saturday finals. The women's 4x100 relay team placed 10th just missing out on one of the final eight spots as the group of Vanneisha Ivy, Ashley Hill, Shardae Anderson and Tyra Johnson clocked a time of 45.37. Johnson also fell short in the 100-meter dash as she crossed the line in 11.94 for 20th place.

Ivy made up for it individually as she claimed the eighth fastest time in the 100-meter hurdles to earn a spot in the final, clocking a time of 13.59. Bremen de Haan fell short of qualifying in the men's 110-meter hurdles as he finished 31st in a time of 14.51. In other hurdle action, LaToya James punched her ticket for the final as she clocked a time of 58.04 in the 400-meter hurdles to take fourth place, while Colleen Farley fell shy of qualifying with a 14th place finish (59.67).

The women's 1500-meter run final will feature a pair of Tar Heels on Saturday as the duo of Brie Felnagle and Megan Kaltenbach both qualified for the event. Felnagle finished fourth in qualifying with a time of 4:21.68, while Kaltenbach finished 11th in a time of 4:24.43. Felnagle made it 2 for 2 in qualifying on Friday when she finished fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:06.12. Freshman Dominique Jackson also earned a spot in the final, finishing just two spots behind Felnagle with a time of 2:06.31. Lauren Holesh competed in the 5000-meter run and clocked a time of 17:39.07 for a 28th place finish to close out the day.

The Carolina men sit in 10th place after day one with eight points, all coming from Nall's second place finish. Meanwhile, the women also have eight points thanks to Joceyln White and are in eighth place after the opening day.