Thursday, June 7
Eugene, Ore.
1 P.M. ET
North Carolina
at
NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships Day 2
Freshman Jill Shippee captured one of Carolina's three All-America honors from Thursday's championship events.
Photo by: Rick Morgan
Alcorta, Keefer, And Shippee Earn All-America Honors
June 8, 2018 | Track & Field
EUGENE, Ore. — The University of North Carolina track and field teams racked up three All-America honors and two new personal bests at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships Thursday. Freshmen Jill Shippee and Anna Keefer earned second-team All-America honors in the women's hammer throw and long jump, respectively, while senior Caroline Alcorta captured second-team honors in the 10,000 meters..
"Looking back at the end of the day, I'm really happy with the progress our kids have made," head coach Harlis Meaders said. "We had Anna Keefer and Jill Shippee, both true freshman, qualify for the national championships which is quite an accomplishment in and of itself. There are very few freshman that actually get to this meet, but both came in and I thought they competed really well. A little bit short of making the finals, but neither of them shied away from the competition. They held their composure and I was really happy with how they competed. The same thing held true for Caroline Alcorta in the women's 10,000 meters. It was probably one of the fastest races in history with five of the women breaking the previous meet record. She was in a great race, but she held her composure, ran her own race and still finished up with a time that was really good for her. A little bit behind the competition, but a really solid effort for her to keep her composure."
Jill Shippee opened up competition for Carolina against a tough lineup in the women's hammer throw. Throwing 200-5 (61.10m) in her first trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the freshman finished 14th overall to earn the All-America recognition.
"Today wasn't my best meet, but I was just happy to be out here and to have made it here," Shippee said. "That was my top goal — to make NCAA's --- I checked that off. Honestly, anything that happened here was just extra. I'm happy I was able to get second-team All-America, and that's nice to have my freshman year. It's a good thing to build off of. I kind of got my toes wet this year, and then the next three years, I'll move up."
Later in the evening, Anna Keefer made her own NCAA Outdoor Championship debut. In her first jump, Keefer set a new wind-legal (+0.7) personal best of 20-3 (6.17m) to finish 15th in the long jump competition.
"I felt good with today," Keefer said. "It wasn't amazing or anything, but I was happy I didn't do anything crazy. I did what I was supposed to do, and I jumped about my average so I feel good. I'm happy I made second-team All-America. I've had a pretty consistent year so I'm hoping next year I can go up a level and become consistent at a further distance."
Representing North Carolina on the track, Caroline Alcorta closed out her Tar Heel career with a new personal best in the 10,000 meters of 33:49.81. The senior finished 14th in what was just her third time racing in the 10,000 meters and her first NCAA Outdoor Championship final.
"I guess I can't really complain about 14th with a personal best, but [my coaches and teammates] were pretty excited," Alcorta said. "Morgan [Ilse] came up and said 'You're an All-American!' It's funny because myself and the Indiana athlete who was right with me for most of the race, we were kind of leaning on each looking at the results saying 'Did we get it? Did we get it?' and then they cut to the 4x400m so we didn't know how we did. Then Morgan and Logan [Roberts] came up to me so that was pretty cool to hear. They were really excited and that made me really happy."
"I think it's been a great day," Meaders said. "Two days in with very solid performances and two days left to try to continue accomplishing some big things out in Eugene. All of our kids are excited about the possibility of getting back to this meet next year and making an even bigger impact. They're going to take that energy back to Chapel Hill, share it with the rest of the team and hopefully we'll get a larger entourage."
With three Tar Heels finished with competition, senior Kenny Selmon and junior Morgan Ilse will wrap up North Carolina's NCAA championship performances at the Hayward Field. Selmon is set to compete on Friday, June 8th at 6:57 p.m. PT in the men's 400-meter hurdles final and Ilse will run Carolina's final event (women's 5,000 meters) on Saturday, June 9th at 5:25 p.m. PT.
FRIDAY'S CAROLINA COMPETITOR
Men
Kenny Selmon – 400-meter hurdles
Selmon, a senior from Mableton, Ga., is a three-time All-America performer in the 400-meter hurdles and a back-to-back ACC champion in the event. At last year's NCAA Championships, he took fourth with a school-record time of 48.60. Selmon is ranked first in the east and second in the country at 48.98, and he was recently named the USTFCCCA Southeast Region Men's Track Athlete of the Year. He finished first in his semifinal heat on Wednesday with the top qualifying time overall (49.27).
WHEN TO WATCH
Friday, 6:57 p.m. PT (Final) – ESPN
"Looking back at the end of the day, I'm really happy with the progress our kids have made," head coach Harlis Meaders said. "We had Anna Keefer and Jill Shippee, both true freshman, qualify for the national championships which is quite an accomplishment in and of itself. There are very few freshman that actually get to this meet, but both came in and I thought they competed really well. A little bit short of making the finals, but neither of them shied away from the competition. They held their composure and I was really happy with how they competed. The same thing held true for Caroline Alcorta in the women's 10,000 meters. It was probably one of the fastest races in history with five of the women breaking the previous meet record. She was in a great race, but she held her composure, ran her own race and still finished up with a time that was really good for her. A little bit behind the competition, but a really solid effort for her to keep her composure."
Jill Shippee opened up competition for Carolina against a tough lineup in the women's hammer throw. Throwing 200-5 (61.10m) in her first trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the freshman finished 14th overall to earn the All-America recognition.
"Today wasn't my best meet, but I was just happy to be out here and to have made it here," Shippee said. "That was my top goal — to make NCAA's --- I checked that off. Honestly, anything that happened here was just extra. I'm happy I was able to get second-team All-America, and that's nice to have my freshman year. It's a good thing to build off of. I kind of got my toes wet this year, and then the next three years, I'll move up."
Later in the evening, Anna Keefer made her own NCAA Outdoor Championship debut. In her first jump, Keefer set a new wind-legal (+0.7) personal best of 20-3 (6.17m) to finish 15th in the long jump competition.
"I felt good with today," Keefer said. "It wasn't amazing or anything, but I was happy I didn't do anything crazy. I did what I was supposed to do, and I jumped about my average so I feel good. I'm happy I made second-team All-America. I've had a pretty consistent year so I'm hoping next year I can go up a level and become consistent at a further distance."
Representing North Carolina on the track, Caroline Alcorta closed out her Tar Heel career with a new personal best in the 10,000 meters of 33:49.81. The senior finished 14th in what was just her third time racing in the 10,000 meters and her first NCAA Outdoor Championship final.
"I guess I can't really complain about 14th with a personal best, but [my coaches and teammates] were pretty excited," Alcorta said. "Morgan [Ilse] came up and said 'You're an All-American!' It's funny because myself and the Indiana athlete who was right with me for most of the race, we were kind of leaning on each looking at the results saying 'Did we get it? Did we get it?' and then they cut to the 4x400m so we didn't know how we did. Then Morgan and Logan [Roberts] came up to me so that was pretty cool to hear. They were really excited and that made me really happy."
"I think it's been a great day," Meaders said. "Two days in with very solid performances and two days left to try to continue accomplishing some big things out in Eugene. All of our kids are excited about the possibility of getting back to this meet next year and making an even bigger impact. They're going to take that energy back to Chapel Hill, share it with the rest of the team and hopefully we'll get a larger entourage."
With three Tar Heels finished with competition, senior Kenny Selmon and junior Morgan Ilse will wrap up North Carolina's NCAA championship performances at the Hayward Field. Selmon is set to compete on Friday, June 8th at 6:57 p.m. PT in the men's 400-meter hurdles final and Ilse will run Carolina's final event (women's 5,000 meters) on Saturday, June 9th at 5:25 p.m. PT.
FRIDAY'S CAROLINA COMPETITOR
Men
Kenny Selmon – 400-meter hurdles
Selmon, a senior from Mableton, Ga., is a three-time All-America performer in the 400-meter hurdles and a back-to-back ACC champion in the event. At last year's NCAA Championships, he took fourth with a school-record time of 48.60. Selmon is ranked first in the east and second in the country at 48.98, and he was recently named the USTFCCCA Southeast Region Men's Track Athlete of the Year. He finished first in his semifinal heat on Wednesday with the top qualifying time overall (49.27).
WHEN TO WATCH
Friday, 6:57 p.m. PT (Final) – ESPN
Players Mentioned
Distance
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Sprints/Jumps
/ Track & Field
Sprints/Hurdles
/ Track & Field
Throws
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