Tar Heel Cross Country Teams Earn Best ACC FInishes Since 2014

Friday, October 29

South Bend, Ind.

10 AM

North Carolina

ACC Championship

Tar Heels Brynn Brown and Parker Wolfe both earned ACC Freshman of the Year honors.

Photo by: Tom Connelly

Tar Heel Cross Country Teams Earn Best ACC FInishes Since 2014

October 29, 2021 | Cross Country

Results

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – North Carolina placed in the top four in both the men's and women's fields Friday morning at the Atlantic Coast Conference Cross Country Championships, with the Tar Heel squads registering their best finishes since 2014. Additionally, UNC swept the ACC Freshman of the Year honors for the first time in school history, with Brynn Brown taking the women's title as the first true freshman to cross the finish and Parker Wolfe earning that distinction in the men's race.

The UNC women were second overall, with both Brown (sixth) and senior Paige Hofstad (10^th) in the top 10 and a total of 87 points. The men were led by Wolfe (seventh) and junior Jack Aho (ninth) for a fourth-place finish with a total of 110 points.

Brown's honor makes it back-to-back Freshman of the Year awards for the UNC women, following Sasha Neglia's recognition in 2020, when she, like Brown, placed sixth overall in the championship field.

Wolfe is the first Tar Heel men's runner to win the top newcomer award since 1999 and the second in program history.

Racing first on a wet, chilly morning in South Bend, the Carolina women finished as runner-up to defending champion NC State. All nine UNC women's finishers were within the top 53 runners in the field of 136.

"I'm so proud of the team's performance today because they executed with selflessness and tenacity," said Dylan Sorensen, head coach of the UNC women's team. "We've been climbing each year at the ACC meet and have watched our group rise from eighth in 2019, to fifth in 2020, to second today. Our mentality through it all has been to race for the team – for something bigger than yourself – and it was fun to experience another key step in our evolution."

The men's race followed, with host Notre Dame taking first, Syracuse second and Wake Forest third ahead of the Tar Heels, who logged their best finish since placing third in 2014.

Six Tar Heels earned All-ACC honors by finishing in the top 21 runners. On the men's side it was Wolfe and Aho, both first-time honorees. For the women, Brown, Hofstad, Kelsey Harrington (19^th) and Sasha Neglia (20^th) earned the recognition. Harrington and Neglia, both sophomores, are All-ACC for the second year in a row. Hofstad earned All-ACC honors for the third time.

2021 ACC Cross Country Championship
UNC Results
Women – 6K
6. Brynn Brown, 20:29.1
10. Paige Hofstad, 20:37.6
19. Kelsey Harrington, 20:47.7
20. Sasha Neglia, 20:49.7
34. Natalie Tyner, 21:07.0
35. Ava Dobson, 21:07.1
36. Carlee Hansen, 21:10.7
37. Taryn Parks, 21:11.5
53. Sarah Trainor, 21:30.3
DNF Sydney Masciarelli

Men – 8K
7. Parker Wolfe, 23:45.7
9. Jack Aho, 23:53.7
26. Patrick Anderson, 24:20.6
35. Ethan Strand, 24:25.8
36. Will Coogan, 24:26.7
42. Marshall Williamson, 24:32.6
51. Jesse Hunt, 24:41.1
68. John Tatter, 24:54.0
81. Crawford Hope, 25:05.8
82. Michael Spragley, 25:09.3