UNC Track and Field: Seven Tar Heels compete at NCAA Championships

Friday saw the conclusion of the North Carolina athletic season for the 2022-23 year when the last couple Tar Heels wrapped up their events at the NCAA Track and Field Championships. There’s now nothing left on the schedule until things ramp back up for the fall sports season.

There’s still a long time left to go until then. So before we get into the college sports-less doldrums of the summer months, let’s check in on how those seven Tar Heels did at the NCAA Track & Field Championships.

The best finisher of any Heels this week was distance runner Parker Wolfe, who finished fifth in the men’s 5000 meters. Wolfe finished less than three seconds back from the winner — Stanford’s Ky Robinson — which is not a bad result considering that Robinson dominated and swept both the 5000m and 10000m.

The next highest finish by a Carolina athlete was Jesse Hunt, who came sixth in the men’s 1500m after a hectic final lap.

He was joined in the final of that event by fellow Tar Heel Ethan Strand, who came 12th.

On the women’s side of things, Madison Wiltrout finished eighth in the javelin. It was Wiltrout’s third career top 10 finish at outdoor NCAAs, having previously finished third in 2019 and 2022.

After setting a personal best of 49.57 in the heat of the men’s 400m hurdles, Craig Sadler II finished ninth in the finals of the event with a time of 49.70. Marshall Williamson came 11th in the 3000m steeplechase, while James Joycey came 23rd in the men’s hammer throw.

For their efforts, five Tar Heels received All-American honors for their placements at the championships. Hunt, Wiltrout, and Wolfe all got first team honors, while Saddler and Strand both made the second team.

While neither UNC track teams contended for a team title with only a handful of athletes competing, the Tar Heel men ended up finished tied for 32nd at the event.

With that, that’s it for North Carolina sports for the 2022-23 athletic year. Now we wait until August.