Gallop & Gorge

For what's thought of as a "family reunion" of area runners, the Double B Gallop & Gorge sure attracted a big and classy crowd on Thanksgiving morning. The traditional pre-feast 8K through the streets of Carrboro saw 825 finishers, led by John Hinton (26:18.12) and Olympian Shalane Flanagan (26:20.00) finishing 1-2, barely two seconds apart.

Caleb Keyserling (26:41) and Rob Benjamin (26:56) took third and fourth, respectively. Local race guru Joan Nesbit Mabe, another Olympian, was the second female in, at 30:32, and Sarah Volk (31:01) was third.

See Wednesday's edition of The Chapel Hill News for more about this race, renamed this year in honor of co-founder Bobby Biles. Though more than 1,700 miles away, Biles still had an active hand in Saturday's 8K, the third and final leg of Le Tour de Carrboro

COLLEGES

It's that time again

Like clockwork, UNC women's soccer coach Anson Dorrance has the Tar Heels clicking at exactly the right time. Sophomore midfielder Ali Hawkins found the back of the net in the 102nd minute Friday to lift No. 4-ranked North Carolina past 14th-ranked Texas A&M 2-1 in double overtime in the quarterfinals of the 2008 NCAA Division I Tournament.

With the win, the Tar Heels improve to 24-0-1 all-time in NCAA Tournament quarterfinal games and the Heels now find themselves in the College Cup semifinals for the 24th time in the tournament's 27-year history. UNC (23-1-2) will play either Duke or UCLA in the NCAA semifinals on Friday at either 4:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. at Wake Med Soccer Park (formerly SAS Soccer Park) in Cary. The Bruins and Blue Devils played each other late Saturday in Los Angeles. (See www.newsobserver.com or today's edition of the News & Observer to find out who will play the Tar Heels.)

UNC defeated Texas A&M (18-5-1) for the third time in the NCAA quarterfinals at Fetzer Field (2002, 2006, 2008). It was also the sixth successive game in the series between the Tar Heels and the Aggies decided by a single goal, three of those in overtime. UNC is 5-1 in those games.

In the 81st minute, the Aggies scored off their only corner kick of the match. A&M's Brianne Young sent a through ball to Laura Grace Robinson inside the six, and her point-blank shot towards the right post put the Aggies up 1-0 at 80:26 of the match. It was Robinson's team-leading ninth goal of the season.

Robinson's goal also broke a string of 752 minutes and 15 seconds of shutout soccer by the Tar Heel defense and a series of seven successive shutouts.

The Tar Heels answered less than 90 seconds later. Hawkins sent a dangerous free kick into the box, punched by the goalie off the cross bar, and Courtney Jones headed the rebound home.

Carolina had the only five shots of the two overtime periods. After A&M tried to clear the fourth shot, Whitney Engen collected the ball on the left side of the penalty area and sent it back to the foot of Hawkins, unmarked near the six-yard box. With time to measure her third shot, Hawkins wound up and powered a hard, low line drive that went into the lower left of the net past diving goalkeeper Kelly Dyer.

Women cagers advance in Jam

Italee Lucas scored 25 points to help North Carolina rout Pacific 98-62 on Friday night in the Junkanoo Jam in The Bahamas. Jessica Breland added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Tar Heels (7-0), who ran out to a 47-25 halftime lead and never looked back. Heather Claytor also had 14 points, hitting four 3-pointers. Jasmine Dana scored 18 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead Pacific (1-2).

UNC advanced in the holiday tournament to face Oregon State in a game played too late Saturday for today's edition of The Chapel Hill News. See www.newsobserver.com or today's edition of the News & Observer for results.

... As do men

A 56th minute goal from freshman forward Billy Schuler was enough Tuesday for No. 13 seed North Carolina to get a 1-0 victory over Jacksonville in the second round of the 2008 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship at Fetzer Field. Schuler's strike snaps a five-game losing skid for the Tar Heels and sends the program into the NCAA round of 16 for the first time since 2005.

Carolina (12-7-1) will host Illinois-Chicago (12-3-6) at 1 p.m. today in a third-round match. (See Upcoming for more.)

The Flames advanced earlier Tuesday by outdistancing No. 4 seed Michigan State in penalty kicks, 3-2.

"Illinois-Chicago is a strong team, so it will be a test for us," said veteran UNC head coach Elmar Bolowich. "They must have done something right to upset the No. 4 seed and advance. We just got to play with a different mentality, not like in the first half tonight. We have to take the initiative on our home field, and since we do have home field advantage, let's go do it."

Netters win ACC

The North Carolina volleyball team clinched the Atlantic Coast Conference championship with a 25-15, 25-14, 25-16 win Friday in Chapel Hill over rival N.C. State. Senior Brianna Eskola set the ACC career record for digs (2,213), to help Carolina claim its 11th ACC title in school history. The ACC title is the fifth of coach Joe Sagula's 19-year career in Chapel Hill, surpassing former coach Beth Miller, who captured four as a coach before becoming an associate athletic director at UNC.

UNC will learn its next opponent when ESPNU televises the NCAA selections at 10 p.m. tonight.

Paschal done

North Carolina administrators said Tuesday that linebacker and team captain Mark Paschal suffered a cervical spine injury last week against North Carolina State and is likely finished with his football career. Paschal had an MRI on Sunday. After reviewing the results, the school's doctors recommended that he quit playing football because of the risk of further injury. He is expected to make a full recovery, physically.

Coach Butch Davis called Paschal "a great leader for us" and said his first concern is his player's health. Paschal -- a second-generation Tar Heel whose father played fullback in the 1970s --missed the first game of his career Saturday when North Carolina visits rival Duke. He had team-leading 103 tackles, two interceptions and a fumble recovery.