12
Friday, February 18, 2000
UNC Seeks Repeat of '99 Surprise Victory
Standouts Terrance Wilson,
Omar Clinton and Jeff Ellis
form one of the nation's
best group of hurdlers.
By T. Nolan Hayes
Sports Editor
The North Carolina men’s track and
field team is out to prove that last year
was no fluke.
The Tar Heels have been an ACC
power for the past decade, but they
were supposed to be competing for sec
ond place behind Clemson at last year’s
outdoor conference meet.
UNC instead
ended the Tigers’
two-year hold on
the crown and
took its first out
door ACC title
since 1995.
The situation is
the same for 2000.
Clemson is the
heavy favorite,
perhaps even
more so than last
year. The differ
ence is that this
year the Tar Heels
know they won’t
UNC junior
Terrance Wilson
won the ACC outdoor
title last year in the
400-meter hurdles in
50.89 seconds.
be able to sneak up on anyone.
“Now everybody’s probably kind of
looking at us to surprise a couple people
again, but it won’t be a surprise to us
because we know what we can do,”
sophomore sprinter and jumper Marcus
O’Neal said. “We feel like we can beat
anybody in the conference, and we’re
going to go out and prove it.”
Leading the charge for the Tar Heels is
one of the nation’s best groups of hur
dlers. Terrance Wilson, last year’s ACC
champ in the 400-meter hurdles, returns
for his junior season with the second
fastest time in school history in that event.
Senior Omar Clinton and junior trans-
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PHOTO COURTESY OF UNC SPORTS INFORMATION
UNC senior Kevin Crittendon has won the outdoor triple jump
at the ACC Championships for the past three years.
fer Jeff Ellis, an Orangeville, Ontario,
native who competed for Canada in the
1999 World Championships, complete
UNC’s hurdling trio.
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Men s Track and Field
Clinton has run the third-fastest time
in UNC history in the 400 hurdles, and
Ellis won the event at last year’s SEC
Championships for Kentucky.
“It’s funny,” UNC coach Dennis
Craddock said. “We had four women
last year who were just as good as any
body in the country in the jumps. Now
we’ve got three men this year, and all
three of them are in the same events.
“All three of them could potentially
score at nationals.”
The Tar Heels aren’t nearly as deep
in the sprints, having lost three-fourths
of their NCAA fourth-place 4-X-100-
meter relay team
from last year.
But O’Neal, the
lone relay member
returning, is young
and improving. He
finished third in the
ACC in the indoor
60-meter dash last
year and placed
eighth in the out
door 100.
“We feel like we can beat
anybody in the conference,
and we’re going to go out
and prove it.”
Marcus O'Neal
Sophomore Sprinter and Jumper
Where O’Neal does most of his dam
age - at least at this point in his career -
is the long jump. He finished second in
the conference indoors and outdoors in
that event last year.
UNC is also strong in the triple jump.
Senior captain Kevin Crittendon won
ACC outdoor titles in the event each of
his first three years and worked on
strength training this summer to prepare
Men's and Women's Track and Field
March 17-18
March 25
March 31-April 1
April 1
April 7-8
April 15
April 21-22
April 27-29
May 13
May 20
May 31-June 3
June 16 & 19
July 14-23
North Carolina
track and field coach
Dennis Craddock
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“That’s one of my goals for the sea
son - I want to go out and win it four
straight years,” Crittendon said. “It’s an
excellent opportunity that I have to take
advantage of.”
The Tar Heels should be strong in
other field events as well. Sophomores
lan Douglas, Sal Gigante, junior transfer
John Ridgway and football players Alge
Crumpler and James Wagstaff give
UNC a deep
group for throws.
Kestutis
Celiesius, a junior
transfer from
Vilnius, Lithuania,
provides the Tar
Heels with an All-
American candi
date in the javelin.
Add ACC pole
vault champ Brent
Callaway to the mix along with solid high
jumpers Jonathan Dean andjim Thomas,
and UNC should be in the top two or
three in the ACC again this season.
Who knows? The Tar Heels might
even be able to knock off Clemson one
more time.
“They’re tough,” O’Neal said, “but
we should be able to beat them just like
we did last year.”
UNC Charlotte Invitational
N.C.State,Williams Mary,
Akron
at N.C State Relays
USC, Nebraska, LSU in Los Angeles, Calif,
at Texas Relays, at Duke Relays
UConn, St. Augustines, Georgetown
ACC Championships in Durham
at Penn Relays
Carolina Classic
at Georgia Tech Reebok Invitational
NCAA Championships in Durham
Olympic Trials Qualifying in Chapel Hill
U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif.