Hofstad Advances To NCAA Championships

Friday, November 15

Earlysville, Va.

10:30 a.m.

North Carolina

NCAA Southeast Regional Championships

Photo by: UNC Athletic Communications

November 15, 2019 | Cross Country

Women's 6K Results Men's 10K Results

EARLYSVILLE, Va. — Senior Paige Hofstad earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Friday following her ninth-place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional. Hofstad, a native of New Braunfels, Texas, received first-team All-Region accolades for her performance and is the first Tar Heel woman to advance to the national stage since the team competed in 2014.

"The best part about today is the momentum we have coming out of it," director of track & field and cross country Chris Miltenberg said. "On both sides, men and women, it was by far the best race of the year. Best race for the entire team on both sides which is exactly how you want to be finishing. I think when you look at the trajectory of the season, you can see how much we learned and figured out each week. I'm really excited and proud of how we ran today, but most of all I'm excited about where it means we're going in the future. Having Paige back in NCAAs is obviously a big step for our program — being back at that meet for the first time in four years — and in one year from now, we're going to have both teams there and we'll be ready to keep climbing."

For the first time since 2015, both Carolina men and women earned top-10 finishes in regional competition. The women's team finished sixth with a team score of 162 points in Friday morning's 6K and the men placed eighth with 217 points in their 10K race.

Alongside Hofstad, senior Mady Clahane clocked a personal-best 6K time of 21:08.7 for 32nd place, the best finish of her career. Freshman Alex Morris placed 36th with a time of 21:12.8 while senior Erin Edmundson followed closely behind in 38th for a final time of 21:14.0. Junior Emmeline Fisher rounded out the Tar Heels' score, crossing the finish line in 21:27.9 for 53rd.

On the men's side, all five scorers earned the highest individual finishes of their NCAA regional careers. Senior Alex Milligan led the Heels with a time of 30:44.5 for 26th, missing All-Region honors by a single spot. Junior Jesse Hunt and senior Jeremy Brown both finished within 10 seconds of Milligan, Hunt clocked 30:47.8 for 29th and Brown 30:53.2 for 33rd. Junior Ian Moini and senior Mitch Resor also contributed to Carolina's team placement after placing 65th (31:37.2) and 68th (31:40.8), respectively.

WOMEN'S 6K RESULTS
TEAM - 6th, 167 points
9. Paige Hofstad, Sr., 20:20.8
32. Mady Clahane, Sr., 21:08.7
36. Alex Morris, Fr., 21:12.8
38. Erin Edmundson, Sr., 21:14.0
53. Emmeline Fisher, Jr., 21:27.9
60. Morgan Ilse, Gr., 21:34.6
131. Lizzy Harding, Fr., 22:34.0

MEN'S 8K RESULTS
TEAM - 8th, 217 points
26. Alex Milligan, Sr., 30:44.5
29. Jesse Hunt, Jr., 30:47.8
33. Jeremy Brown, Sr., 30:53.2
65. Ian Moini, Jr., 31:37.2
68. Mitch Resor, Sr., 31:40.8
69. Marshall Williamson, So., 31:41.2
95. John Tatter, So., 32:05.5

Next Up: Paige Hofstad will represent the Tar Heels at the 2019 NCAA Cross Country Championships hosted by Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Ind. on Nov. 23.