Thursday, April 24, 2003
North Carolina women win third straight DMR
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA -- Alice Schmidt pulled away from the pack to
lead North Carolina to its third straight victory in the women's
distance medley at the Penn Relays on Thursday.
Schmidt, part of a relay team that returned intact from last
season, took the baton barely ahead of Florida State's Tamara
Campbell at the beginning of the race's third leg. The junior
turned in an 800-meter split of 2 minutes, 4.3 seconds to give the
Tar Heels a comfortable lead going into Shalane Flanagan's anchor
leg.
Flanagan completed her 1,600-meter leg in 4:34.1, and North
Carolina won the event in 10:56.67. Runner-up Arkansas finished
14.11 seconds back, followed by Villanova.
"I didn't feel overly wonderful out there,'' Schmidt said. "We
had a long bus ride yesterday. My legs felt bad. But it feels good
now.''
The ride from Chapel Hill took nearly 10 hours. Still, North
Carolina was a heavy favorite entering the competition,
particularly with archrival Stanford not taking part in the meet.
The Tar Heels barely nipped Stanford in the distance medley last
year.
"We knew we could win easily,'' Flanagan said. "All we had to
do was get around the track without any complications.''
North Carolina's first two runners -- Erin Donohue, who ran the
1,200-meter opening leg, and Anissa Gainey, who ran the 400-meter
second leg -- could not separate from Florida State's Laura Gerber
and Natalie Hughes. Schmidt then took over.
"There were less jitters this time around,'' Schmidt said. "We
had one more year at Penn under our belts. We were more confident,
less nervous.''
Donohue, Gainey and Schmidt will be back next year. Flanagan, a
junior, indicated after the race that she might redshirt next
season to prepare for the Olympics.
"I'll talk to my coach and see if I can be replaced,'' Flanagan
said.
A number of women turned in outstanding performances during the
first full day of Penn Relays competition. South Carolina's
Lashinda Demus started the day with her second straight Penn Relays
400-meter championship. She finished in 56.90 seconds, easily
beating Melaine Walker (57.24) of Essex Community College (N.J.)
Auburn's Elva Goulbourne won the long jump for the second
straight year, with a Penn Relays-record leap of 21 feet, 10
inches. Second-place Victoria Rybalko of Maine jumped 21-6}.
Goulbourne also won the long jump as a high school senior at
Dinthill Tech (Jamaica).
Florida's Candice Scott set an NCAA record in the hammer throw
with a toss of 223-10. She broke the mark of 220-1, set by Brigham
Young's Amy Palmer in 1998. Establishing new Penn Relays records
were Arkansas' April Steiner in the pole vault (14 feet) and North
Carolina's Laura Gerraughty in the shot put (60-6).
In men's competition, Shadrack Kosgei won the Olympic
Development 5,000-meter run in 13:16.47. Linus Maiyo crossed the
finish line in 13:39.91 for second place. Bob Kennedy, the American
record-holder in the 3,000 and 5,000, returned from two years of
inactivity due to injury and finished third in 13:43.96.
