University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
ACC XC Championships
Tar Heels Set For ACC XC Championships
October 26, 2017 | Cross Country
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of North Carolina cross country teams will compete in the ACC Cross Country Championships on Friday, Oct. 27, at E.P. Tom Sawyer Park in Louisville, Ky. The men's 8k final opens the competition at 10 a.m., followed by the women's 6k championship at 11 a.m.
After top-10 finishes during the regular season in nationally-competitive meets, senior Caroline Alcorta and junior Morgan Ilse are expected to challenge for the women's individual title.
This marks the first year that the ACC Cross Country Championships have been held at Sawyer Park, which will also be the site of the NCAA Division I Championships on Nov. 18. The Tar Heels competed on the course at the Louisville Classic on Sept. 30.
HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
Both championships will be shown live on ACC Network Extra and live results will be available online.
Fans can also follow @UNCTrack_Field on Twitter throughout the morning. A meet recap and results will be posted on GoHeels.com following the completion of competition.
THE FIELD
North Carolina Men - Jeremy Brown, Logan Carroll, Jake McEneaney, Brodie Modini, Mark Myers, Luke Peterson, Mitch Resor, Matt Thornton, Brandon Tubby.
North Carolina Women - Caroline Alcorta, Emma Astrike-Davis, Mady Clahane, Blake Dodge, Erin Edmundson, Casey Greenwalt, Morgan Ilse, Lindsey Lanier and Ashley Smith.
Ranked teams on the men's side include No. 4 Syracuse, No. 11 Virginia Tech and No. 22 NC State. The NC State women hold a No. 5 national ranking.
ACC CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
• Carolina has won the ACC Men's Championship nine times, the third most titles in the league. The men last captured the title in 1985.
• Fourteen Tar Heels on the men's side have captured the ACC Individual title - the most in the league and most recently in 1997 when John Cline win in 25:06.6.
• Carolina has won the ACC Women's Championship four times, the third most titles in the conference. The women most recently captured the title in 2014.
• Eight Tar Heels on the women's side have won the individual title - second most in the ACC, and most recently in 2011 when Kendra Schaaf won in 19:45.3.
• Senior Caroline Alcorta has earned All-ACC honors twice - in 2014 she finished 17th as she helped the Tar Heels to their first ACC title in 11 seasons. She was named the 2014 ACC Freshman of the
Year. in 2015 she was again named All-ACC after finishing 12th at the Championships.
• Junior Morgan Ilse and redshirt-junior Logan Carroll earned All-ACC honors in 2016. Ilse finished 16th and Carroll finished 20th in the Championship meet.
• In 2016, the Carolina men finished sixth at the ACC Championships, and the women finished 13th.
ALCORTA NAMED ACC PERFORMER OF THE WEEK
North Carolina's Caroline Alcorta was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Cross Country Performer of the Week on Oct. 18.
Alcorta, a senior from Springfield, Va., finished fourth out of 177 runners in a field that included four ranked teams at the Penn State National on Oct. 13. She notched a 6k personal best of 20:26 in what was just her second meet of the season.
Alcorta has racked up honors from the conference throughout her career. She was named the performer of the week in 2016 after winning the Adidas XC 5k Challenge with a time of 16:42.4, she was All-ACC in 2015 after finishing 12th at the ACC Cross Country Championships and she was named ACC Freshman of the Year in 2014 after helping lead the Tar Heels to their first ACC Championship in 11 seasons where she finished 17th.
PENN STATE NATIONAL RECAP
Caroline Alcorta and Morgan Ilse finished four-five out of 177 runners at the Penn State National on Oct. 13 in State College, Pa. Both had 6k personal bests on the day with Alcorta finishing in 20:26 and Ilse right behind in 20:29. They led the University of North Carolina women's cross country team to a 9th-place finish out of 17 teams. The men's squad also finished 9th out of 14 teams.
In the final regular-season meet, both Alcorta and Ilse looked to be nearing peak form just two weeks out of the ACC Championships. It was Ilse's second-straight top-10 finish in a nationally-competitive meet, and Alcorta looked to be in the best shape of her career since finishing All-ACC and All-Region in 2015.
Jeremy Brown was the top finisher for the men in 32nd with a time of 26:11.
LOUISVILLE CLASSIC RECAP
Morgan Ilse finished ninth out of 328 runners in 16:51.17 at the Louisville Classic on Sept. 30 in Louisville, Ky., a race billed as the nation's largest cross country meet. Ilse helped the University of North Carolina women's cross country team to a 14th-place finish out of 37 teams. The men's squad finished 15th out of 30 teams.
The meet lived up to the billing with 328 runners competing in the women's 5k race and 262 running in the men's 8k.
Caroline Alcorta made her season debut in the race, finishing 33rd in 17:18.07. However, it was Morgan Ilse who stole the show with a 40-second 5k personal best and a top-10 finish in one of the nation's most competitive regular-season races of the season. Ilse won the Mountains to Sea Open two weeks prior, leading the Tar Heels to a team victory in the meet.
On the men's side, Jeremy Brown led the Tar Heels, finishing in 72nd with a time of 24:50.20.
MITCH RESOR NAMED ACC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
North Carolina's Mitch Resor was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Cross Country Freshman of the Week on Sept. 20th.
Resor, a redshirt freshman from Charlotte, N.C., had his second top-five finish in as many meets as he led the Tar Heels to a 49-point victory in the Mountains to Sea Open on Sept. 16 He finished the 8k race in 25:33.61, taking second place. In his first meet, Resor finished fifth in 18:30 at the Elon Opener, and in both meets Resor was the top Tar Heel finisher.
Resor is the first Tar Heel to earn the award, now in its second year.
MOUNTAINS TO SEA OPEN RECAP
The University of North Carolina men's and women's cross country teams each claimed impressive top finishes at the Mountains to Sea Open in Boone, N.C., on Sept. 16. The men won by 49 points, and the women won by 33 points.
The Tar Heel women were led by junior Morgan Ilse, who won the 5k meet with a time of 17:13.61 in her first time racing this season. Redshirt freshmen Mitch Resor, Jeremy Brown and Mark Myers went 2-3-4 in the 8k race, helping the men to an easy victory in their last local meet before facing national competition at the Louisville Classic in two weeks.
Resor finished in 25:33.61, Brown finished just a second behind in 25:34.64 and Myers finished in 25:36.12. Veteran Logan Carroll took eighth in 25:43.48, and Matt Thornton completed the dominate win as he finished ninth in 25:44.40.
ELON OPENER RECAP
The University of North Carolina men's and women's cross country teams finished second at the Elon Opener in Elon, N.C., on Sept. 2. The men faced a talented Campbell team but were able to run a controlled race, and the women showed their ability despite competing without their top two runners, Caroline Alcorta and Morgan Ilse.
Mitch Resor, a sophomore from Charlotte, N.C., led Carolina in his first cross country meet as a Tar Heel, running 18:30 and finishing 5th in the 6k race. Junior Logan Carroll (Gig Harbor, Wash.), sophomore Brandon Tubby (Hillsborough, N.J.) and sophomore Alex Milligan (State College, Pa.) all finished just behind Resor to take seventh, eighth and ninth places. Carroll ran 18:45, Tubby finished in 18:53 and Milligan ran 18:56. Sophomore Matt Thornton (Cary, N.C.) rounded out the scoring for the Tar Heels, finishing 12th in 19:06.
On the women's side, Mady Clahane, a sophomore from Mechanicsburg, Pa., finished fifth in 14:57 to lead the Tar Heels in the 4k race.
Players Mentioned
