Nov. 24, 2003

Shalane Flanagan won her second-straight NCAA Cross Country Championship with a time of 19:30.4 in the 6k race. Flanagan finished twelve seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, as she has won ten meets in a row, dating back to September of 2002. The Carolina women's team placed eighth overall with 294 points.

Carol Henry earned seventh place, with a time of 19:59.3. The performance by Henry was her career best time in a 6k race. Junior Erin Donohue placed 31st, and earned 28 points for UNC, with a time of 20:40.2.

"Carol Henry had a great race today," said head coach Michael Whittlesey. "She did a fantastic job of getting into the front pack. Coming in seventh as a sophomore is a fantastic job, and that was a great finish for her. Erin Donohue ran a very solid race as well."

Other finishers for North Carolina were freshmen Megan Kaltenbach, Meghan Owen, Kristin Stroupe and sophomore Jessica Perry. Kaltenbach placed 157th and earned 124 points with a time of 21:36.9. Owen earned 134 points with a 170th-place finish (21:43.8) and Stroupe placed 195th with a time of 21:59.5. Perry was able to finish, despite suffering an injury during the race. She had a time of 23:22.2.

"For the three freshmen, this was their first [national] race, and their lack of experience in the race definitely hurt them in understanding the mental part of the race and how competitive it really is," Whittlesey said. "They ran for us and they never stopped fighting. We hope that they're going to do an excellent job for us in the future, and they've had a tremendous, tremendous season."

The team's eighth-place finish was an improvement of 13 spots on its 21st-place finish from last season. The meet wraps up the 2003 cross country season in which the team finished first in the ACC and the Southeast region and saw Flanagan win her fourth district title and her second consecutive national title.

"Being the ACC Champions and the District Champions, we had a great year," said Whittlesey. "We had three girls that really stepped up and did a great job today."

"I don't think our placing maybe showed how tough we ran," Flanagan said, "but individually, I was obviously very happy; I think Carol, Erin and I up front did a really great job. I'm just so proud to represent UNC and hopefully leave a legacy behind."