Chapel Hill High school's harriers showed the power of consistency last weekend at the annual WNC Cross Country Carnival. Seven of the CHHS males all finished in the top 25 and won the boys' championship in the featured 5K race at Jackson Park in Hendersonville. The top five came in barely 18 seconds apart.

CHHS senior William Bunch led the pack, with a time of 16:42.59, and finished 11th overall. He was followed in close order by Asher Colburn-Hertzberg (16:48.13) in 13th place, Liam Stott (16:49.82) 14th, Kyle Villemain (16:51.17) 15th and Jacob Hoerger (17:00.84) in 17th. Paul Noah (17:14.77) was 21st and Scott Sutter (17:15.59) 22nd to round out a remarkable performance. Combined, they gave Chapel Hill 55 points, well ahead of runnerup T.C. Roberson's 139. Charlotte Catholic was third with 189.

Science Hill senior Michael Mansy won the individual title with a time of 15:32.86 to help his team finish fourth. Thomas Graham, a sophomore from Cary Academy was second at 15:39.45 and Eastern Alamance senior Jake Hurysz was third in 15:43.20.

The CHHS girls did just about as well, with four top-20 finishes and none worse than 46th. Ninth-grader Tristan Van Ord clocked the 5K in 20:15.17 to lead the way for CHHS; she finished in seventh place. Sarah Jane Kerwin (20:39.09) finished 14th and Meg Duffy (20:43.90) 15th, followed by Lindsay Savelli (21:00.81) 18th and Pasangi Perera in 33rd to finish the scoring. Ahna Weeks (21:38.68) was 40th and Erin McGibbon 46th as Chapel Hill finished third in the girls' championship standings.

Laura Hoer of Asheville T.C. Roberson came in at 18:57.54, well ahead of teammate Brooke Gordan (19:06.09), to help TCR take first with 44 points. Runnerup Watauga had 68 points and Chapel Hill 83, with Charlotte Latin School (170) and Charlotte Catholic (177) rounding out the top five teams.

Note: the Orange-CHHS dual meet scheduled for today was cancelled.

Fast start for East Chapel Hill alum

East Chapel Hill 2009 grad Omar McFadden caught two passes for 15 yards in is first game for Livingstone College last weekend, a 37-7 loss to Virginia State. One of the fastest players in the Triangle last year, McFadden is one in a large group of underclassmen that Livingstone head coach Lamonte Massey thinks can help the Blue Bears improve on last year's 3-7 finish.

Most Livingstone fans point to the Oct. 3 game with perennial HBUC power Johnson C. Smith as the benchmark for the Blue Bears. The Livingstone-Smith "Commemorative Classic" celebrates the "birth of Black college football" -- Dec. 27, 1892 -- when the two teams met on the Salisbury campus of Livingstone.

For details about the game go the Classic's web site at www.commemorativeclassic.com

Touch rugby games in September

The Highlanders Rugby Club of Chapel Hill will host "touch rugby" games at 5:30 p.m. every Thursday through September at the Chapel Hill Bible Church. Touch games allow for an introduction to the speed and dynamic skill of rugby in a non-contact setting. Internationally certified Highlander coaches run all sessions. New players ages 15 and up are most welcome.

The Highlanders of Chapel Hill are four-time defending high school state champions and are ranked No. 7 nationally. For more information about the Highlander club experience, please visit www.highlandersrfc.org.

Water Polo on tap

The Water Polo Club of Cary that will host its first game clinic in Chapel Hill on Sept. 12 in the Community Center Pool, located off Estes Drive. Another clinic is planned for Sept. 26 at Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary, and the group plans to rotate on a regular basis after that between Chapel Hill and Cary, with hopes to form a four-club league if enough interest in generated.

Or more information, contact Jeffrey Taekman at jtaekman@gmail.com or 616-1424.

A longer Riverwalk

The Town of Hillsborough has been awarded $392,000 last week for Phase 2 of Riverwalk, which will connect Gold Park to the downtown. The matching grant from the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, awarded Friday, will fund the purchase of about 19 acres on Faribault Lane, some of which the town already has acquired.

The Trust Fund grant, awarded by the N.C. Parks and Recreation Authority, will help Hillsborough complete the critical acquisitions needed for its 1.5-mile trail along the Eno River. The grant was one of 21 awarded from an available $8.4 million to local governments for parks and recreational projects. Eighty-five applications were considered. Orange County also received $500,000 for continued development of Fairview Park in Hillsborough.

Riverwalk's Phase 2 design work may start this year. Because the town will seek another grant to help fund construction, that portion of work will not start for at least a year. Construction of Gold Park, which opened in April, was Riverwalk's first phase of work. When complete, the greenway will connect Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area to the downtown and will be part of North Carolina's Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

No. 1 Heels edge Spartans

No. 1 North Carolina scored in the 57th minute and made it stand up as the Tar Heels edged UNC Greensboro 1-0 on Sunday in the final game of the Carolina Nike Classic at Fetzer Field. Friday night, UNC senior midfielder Tobin Heath produced a pair of world-class finishes while assisting on another tally to spark Carolina to a 4-0 victory over UCF in the Nike Classic. A crowd of 1,000 sat through a steady downpour to see the game.

Things were sunnier on Sunday, when North Carolina (3-0) finally broke through on Nikki Washington's goal with 33:30 left in the contest. Meghan Klingenberg got the play started with a cross in from the right wing, and Ali Hawkins tapped the ball to Washington, who pounded home the finish.

The Tar Heels threatened early and often in the first half, with Heath and Casey Nogueira ripping shots just wide in the opening 15 minutes. UNC had four corner kicks in the early going, with the last two nearly finding the back of the net if not for the efforts of UNCG sophomore keeper Kelsey Kearney. UNCG (1-2) drew two corner kicks in the last minute before the break but came up empty. Much the same held true for the Tar Heels in the second half -- lots of chances but just the one goal.

The Spartans knocked off No. 11 Duke 1-0 in the opening game of the Carolina Nike Classic on Friday night.

UNC field hockey debuts with win

North Carolina opened the 2009 field hockey season Saturday with a 2-1 win over Michigan at the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, hosted by Iowa. After trailing 1-0, the fourth-ranked Tar Heels scored in the 59th minute and again in the 64th to earn the win.

Four players made their UNC debuts, with redshirt freshman Caitlin Van Sickle and true freshmen Kelsey Kolojejchick and Jaclyn Gaudioso Radvany in the starting lineup, and true freshman Katie Ardrey coming off the bench.

The Tar Heels got goals from senior Danielle Forword (assisted by Riley Foster and Katelyn Falgowski) and Kolojejchick (assisted on her first career goal by Forword.) The game was a return to the field for Forward, a team captain who was Carolina's leading scorer last season but missed the final eight games of the season after suffering a knee injury.

Five different players scored for Carolina as the fourth-ranked Tar Heels beat host Iowa 5-0 Sunday in the Challenge to improve to 2-0 on the season. Falgowski got the game-winner in the 11th minute and UNC rolled to a four-goal lead before halftime at Grant Field. Other goals came from Elizabeth Stephens, Elizabeth Drazdowski, Melanie Brill and Kolojejchick.

"It was a great weekend for us, in particular the first half today," North Carolina coach Karen Shelton said Sunday. "We played exceptionally well."

Netters head west

The UNC volleyball team heads to Kansas this weekend to face Oklahoma, Grambling State and host Wichita State in the Best Western Shocker Classic. North Carolina is coming off a 3-2 loss to Michigan State in the final match of the MSU Showcase last weekend.

Senior Heather Brooks was named to the All-Tournament Team, posting nine kills and four blocks in the loss to Michigan State. Both Courtney Johnston (12) and Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland (16) were one shy of their career kills. Suzanne Haydel added 13 kills for the Heels, who hit .288 on the night with 63 kills. Carolina falls to 1-2 on the year as the Spartans improve to 3-0.

North Carolina came out of the weekend with a 1-2 record in the Showcase. The Tar Heels fell to Southern Cal in three sets Saturday in what was just the second meeting ever between Carolina and USC, and the first since 1999. Earlier, Carolina defeated Albany, 3-1.