PAGE 14
SCOREBOARD
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CHRIS GILFILLAN
BORN 'N' BRED
Celebrating
Durham’s
voice, value
Dear Woody: I know you
never had a face for me
until I shook your hand, •
but your voice long has been
ingrained in my memory.
The Voice of the Tar Heels.
Man. My grandfather, a UNC
alumnus, still mutes the televi
sion to listen to you instead of
those dam commentators.
Quite an honor, I must say.
I think he would swoon on the
spot if he ever met you in person.
When you left me a message
on my answering machine, I
saved it.
Matter of fact, I still have it,
and I don’t plan on retiring it for
weeks although my friends are
really getting tired of hearing it
because I play it to them so fre
quently.
And now you’ve been inducted
into the N.C. Association of
Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
I know, honors are secondary,
and there are too many highly
regarded people that haven’t
been recognized.
When the ceremony ended, a
line formed that seemed to span
as far as your voice has carried
across North Carolina.
You humbly stole the show
from broadcasting giants like
Carl Kassel or Cullie Tarleton.
. During the reception before
you were inducted, UNC legends
like Dean Smith and Phil Ford
wanted to shake your hand.
Although you schmooze with
the big names, it’s the hometown
North Carolina fans that appreci
ate you the most.
Dean Smith calls your follow
ing cult-like.
And it takes a lifer to help you
understand. I think we were bom
under the same moon.
Small-town high schools, big
time football and a fever for all
things Carolina blue.
Your flawless work meets the
standards of your high school
football coach he never turned
anybody away as long as they
worked for him.
My hometown of Conover
can’t be that far from Ablemarle.
Heck, our high schools may have
played each other.
Values were instilled in us
from an early age. And like you
can’t drop your Southern accent
on your show, I can’t stop listen
ing to it.
My first North Carolina bas
ketball experience was with you
over the airwaves.
I have “Carolina is going to
win the national championship!”
engraved in my memory.
The only thing that rivals your
love for UNC was your love for
UNC athletics.
You won’t let North Carolina’s
thousands of athletes and coach
es go by without thanking them
for giving you the opportunity to
blast the airwaves.
As we sat in Coach John
Gutekunst’s office talking for an
interview, I couldn’t help but
nervously smirk with the secret
knowledge that I know that you
know that North Carolina is the
best.
You sat there, bright eyes
behind silver spectacles juxta
posed against silver hair. You talk
with your hands, but no one can
notice when you’re on the radio.
Still though, there’s something
in your voice that’s inspiring even
if I can sit and talk with you in
person.
Perhaps it’s the fervor. Perhaps
it’s the professionalism. Perhaps
it’s the responsibility with which
you hold your listeners over the
airwaves.
Suffice it to say, your voice is
my hero.
I know my grandfather will
swoon when I tell him that I
talked with you.
Woody, you are North
Carolina, and you are as much of
an institution as the Old Well.
Just wanted to tell you.
Contact Chris Gilfillan
at cgilfill@email.unc.edu.
Sports Monday
MEN'S LACROSSE Johns Hopkins 10 UNC 9
Secondary shines in spring game
Freshman Mitchell impressive in scrimmage
BY DANIEL BLANK
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
In one half of North Carolina’s Blue and
White football scrimmage on Saturday, the
Tar Heel secondary had more interceptions
than it had all of last season.
The Blue team’s Kareen Taylor had two
first-quarter picks, and the two teams com
bined for four in all eclipsing last year’s
total of two, both of which came in its loss to
Wisconsin.
But despite Taylor’s interceptions and
four tackles, the White team defeated the
Blue team 17-7 in the annual spring football
game at Kenan Stadium.
“(Taylor’s) got great football instincts,”
said Coach John Bunting. “He’s a fierce
competitor, and what I liked today is that
there were a couple deep balls thrown and
DEJA VU: TAR HEELS
FALL SHORT OF NCAAS
BY BRIAN MACPHERSON
SPORTS EDITOR
RALEIGH They stood
in a group, blank expres
sions on their faces, grey
duffel bags on their backs,
watching nothing in partic
ular on the Reynolds
Coliseum
floor.
All season,
they’d
cheered
together,
trained
GYMNASTICS
UCLA 197.325
UN 196.375
UNC 196.350
WVU 195.275
UMd. 194.575
NCSU 194.375
together, fought together,
taped ankles together.
But now, all they could do
was stare in disbelief togeth
er as Coach Derek Galvin
confirmed that this season
the most remarkable sea
son in the history of North
Carolina gymnastics offi
cially had come to an end.
And the painful scenario
was all too familiar.
A year after missing qual
ification to the NCAA cham
pionship meet by 0.05
points, the Tar Heels once
again fell short by a margin
bordering on ridiculous.
No. 1 UCLA won the
NCAA Southeast Regional
on Saturday with a score of
197.325, and No. 13
Nebraska earned the second
coveted bid to nationals
with 196.375 points the
last 0.075 coming after the
Cornhuskers submitted an
inquiry to raise their team
vault score.
It was just enough. No. 12
North Carolina finished at
196.350 —a difference of
0.025 points.
The margin of defeat was
as close as it could possibly
NCAA dream slips out of seniors’ reach
Wilson, Curley led
teams historic rise
BY GABRIELLE DEROSA
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
RALEIGH Anna Wilson sat
alone amid a sea of disheveled
folding chairs, reflecting on her
three-year ride on the wave that
was North Carolina gymnastics.
The crescendo of that ride had
come minutes earlier.
The senior’s UNC career came
to a screeching halt just 0.025
points shy of a team bid to the
NCAA championships.
“You know that it can some
times come down to margins like
www.dailytarheel.com
he was right there with the receiver and was
able to cover him and turn his head, get the
timing down and knock the ball down,
along with making a couple of intercep
tions.”
Taylor looked comfortable despite playing
at anew position. The coaching staff is
attempting to shift him from safety to cor
nerback.
The secondary showed vast improvement
overall. Although four Tar Heel quarter
backs combined to complete 26 of 48 pass
es, they were limited to just 190 yards.
“Asa defensive coach, that’s a real posi
tive,” said co-defensive coordinator John
Gutekunst. “We’ve gotten our hands on
some balls, and done a good job that way.”
SEE FOOTBALL, PAGE 11
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DTH PHOTOS/LAURA MORTON
Above: Freshman Christine Robella earned a 9.90 on beam at the NCAA Southeast Regional on Saturday.
Below: (left to right) Maddy Curley, Amanda Smith and Lisa Tegethoff react to their season-ending defeat.
get. No technical deduction
in the sport is worth as little
as 0.025 points.
“We just keep getting clos
er, but we never get there,”
said sophomore Courtney
Bumpers, who qualified for
that,” she said. “It’s very frustrat
ing.”
Wilson’s arrival after transfer
ring from Pennsylvania was the
catalyst for the most successful
run in the history of UNC gym
nastics.
Even before Wilson provided a
dramatic boost in talent, fellow
senior Maddy Curley infused the
team with optimism from the
moment she stepped on the mats
her freshman year.
At that time the Tar Heels’ goal
had been to qualify for the region
al competition. Curley urged the
team to set its sights on nationals
regardless of past performances or
SEE SENIORS, PAGE 11
WOMEN'S LACROSSE Georgetown 14 UNC 3
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the NCAA championship
meet as an individual.
“That’s so frustrating, to be
so close every year and just
keep missing it.
“It’s like, ‘What do you
want us to do? What more
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WOMEN'S TENNIS UNC 5 Maryland 2
do you want us to do?’”
The meet came down to
floor exercise and vault, with
the Tar Heels in third place
after two events.
SEE GYMNASTICS, PAGE 11
Qlfjp ioily (Hot UM
APRIL 5, 2004
North Carolina
cornerback
Kareen Taylor
(27) wraps his
arms around
UNC running
back Ronnie
McGill in the
Tar Heels'
annual spring
football game
Saturday.
Taylor earned
four tackles
and a pair of
interceptions,
but the White
team won by a
score of 17-7.
DTH/LAURA MORTON
Baseball
smokes
Wake in
sweep
Tar Heels overcome
5 errors in victory
BY DANIEL BLANK
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
WINSTON-SALEM lt is said
that walking the leadoff hitter will
come back to haunt you.
It certainly made for a night
mare of a first inning for Wake
Forest starter Kyle Young, whose
walk to Greg
Mangum was
compounded by
a hit batter and
two Demon
Deacon errors.
North Carolina
pounced on the
miscues and
scored five runs
BASEBALL
UNC 11
Wake Forest 3
UNC 7
Wake Forest 3
UNC 9
Wake Forest 7
in the inning.
The five runs proved to be more
than UNC starter Andrew Miller
would need as the Tar Heels
picked up an easy 11-3 win on
Sunday at Hooks Stadium.
The win completed a weekend
sweep for the Tar Heels (23-6,7-2
in the ACC), their first against
Wake (11-17, 1-8) since the ACC
switched to three-game series in
199a.
UNC beat the Demon Deacons
7-3 on Saturday and 9-7 on Friday.
The first two games were hard
fought victories UNC had to
score one run in the eighth and
four in the ninth to win Saturday.
But on Sunday, the outcome
was never in doubt after the top of
the first.
“Five runs in the first, they kind
of gave up after that,” Miller said. “I
think we came out and had more
confidence than them (Sunday).”
Pitching in difficult windy con
ditions, Miller rebounded well
from his last start on March 28
when he served up four home runs
to Florida State.
Miller yielded only three hits
and three runs, two of which were
earned, and struck out five batters
in 5.1 innings to earn his first win
since March 9-
After Miller ran into trouble in
the bottom of the sixth, Whitley
Benson came in and dominated
the Wake lineup to get the save.
In 3.2 innings, Benson struck
out six and allowed no hits or walks.
Miller and Benson received
plenty of run support from an
offense that has started to produce
consistently high run totals after
struggling early in the season.
Four Tar Heels had multi-hit
games, including Blair Waggett,
who went 2 for 3 with a triple and
two RBI, picking up his first hits of
SEE BASEBALL, PAGE 11
INSIDE
TRACK AND FIELD
List of UNC regional bids grows
at meets at Duke, Texas PAGE 8
MEN'S TENNIS
The Tar Heels remain undefeated
in ACC after win at UVa. PAGE 9
ROWING
North Carolina rowers finish first
in 5 of 8 races at Indiana PAGE 9