UNC Men's And Women's Squads Earn Championship Bids

Saturday, November 20

Tallahassee, Fla.

10:20 AM

North Carolina

NCAA Championships

The Tar Heel women earned an NCAA automatic bid with a second-place finish at Regionals.

Photo by: Jermaine Bibb

November 13, 2021 | Cross Country

The UNC men's and women's cross country teams both will compete in the 2021 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 20 in Tallahassee, Fla., following announcement of the field on Saturday. The Tar Heel women earned an automatic bid with their second-place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional meet on Friday, and the men were an at-large selection.

It's the first time since 2014 that both UNC squads have qualified for the NCAA Championships in the same year. The Carolina women also qualified last year and placed 14^th overall, the program's highest finish since 2010. This appearance will be the first for the UNC men since 2014.

Both squads turned in outstanding performances on Friday racing in Anchorage, Ky., just outside of Louisville. The Tar Heel women placed second and the men were third. Additionally, nine Tar Heels earned All-Region honors by placing in the top 25 of their respective races. On the women's side, that was Paige Hofstad, Brynn Brown, Kelsey Harrington, Ava Dobson, Natalie Tyner and Sasha Neglia. On the men's side, it was Parker Wolfe, Jack Aho and Patrick Anderson.

"This was a really exciting and important day in the growth of our program as we climb towards building one of the top distance programs in the country," said Chris Miltenberg, UNC's Director of Track & Field/Cross Country, of the regional finishes. "Most of all, our entire men's and women's teams competed so well and kept fighting all the way through the second half of the race. They all raced with clear purpose and cohesion. Both our teams are so young, so freshmen-heavy, that this is another great seed planted for our future and an exciting sign of what lies ahead."

For a full list of qualifying teams and individuals, click here.