Keefer, McArthur And Shippee Set To Compete In Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – As the 2022 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships kick off on Friday, three Tar Heel veterans will look to wrap up their collegiate indoor careers with honors. Daniel McArthur will compete in men's shot put, Jill Shippee in women's weight throw and Anna Keefer in both women's long jump and 200 meters.

"We're really excited about the group we're taking," said Chris Miltenberg, UNC's Director of Track & Field/Cross Country. "These three seniors have climbed their way to be among the best in the country. They're all still scratching the surface on how good they can be, and I'm excited to see them compete against the best in the country this weekend."

At the Birmingham CrossPlex, women's long jump preliminaries start on Friday at 7 p.m. Central and 200m semifinals kick off later that evening at 8:25. Women's weight throw also starts Friday at 7 p.m. Men's shot put starts Saturday at 4 p.m. CT.

For the full schedule, click here.

All three Tar Heels are coming off record-setting performances at the 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Championships Feb. 24-26 at Virginia Tech. Keefer's long jump distance of 21-6 (6.55m) earned her gold and was the best in school history. McArthur earned shot put gold with a school-record throw of 70-7 (21.51m). Shippee broke her own school record in the weight throw and placed third with a distance of 72-8.5 (21.16m).

McArthur goes into the final competition of his collegiate career ranked first in his event. (Keefer and Shippee still have an outdoor season left to compete, but McArthur has exhausted his outdoor eligibility.) He's a three-time All-America in the shot put and twice has finished fourth at NCAA Indoor Championships, including at this same venue in 2019.

Shippee will compete at Indoor Championships for the first time. She placed third in the hammer throw at 2021 NCAA Outdoors.

Keefer placed 10^th in long jump last year at NCAA Indoors to earn second-team All-America honors. This time she'll be balancing another event, and that juggling act is something she's come to enjoy. "It does help me to have two events rather than putting all the pressure on one and feeling like that has to be perfect," said Keefer, who competed three events at ACC Indoor Championships, running the 60-meter dash in addition to the 200m and long jump.

After a stellar season and an ACC Championship, she heads to Birmingham feeling more confident than she did heading into last year's NCAA Indoors. "Last year it was just honestly luck – I felt like I caught a jump and qualified," she said. "Whereas this year I feel like I've built upon it and I've been able to jump and compete better. (The school record for long jump) was definitely something I had my eye on this year and it just felt awesome at ACC Championships to reach that goal. I feel like I couldn't be in a better position to go into these national championships and hope I can go out and execute and have fun."

For more info on the NCAA Championship, click here.

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Anna Keefer

Daniel McArthur

Jill Shippee

Related Videos