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NEWS: North Carolina Hires Former High School Coach Ann Dunn as Next Leader of Tar Heels' Women's Distance Program
- Angelina Napoleon
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Written by Angelina Napoleon, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin
Last week, the University of North Carolina announced that they have hired Ann Dunn as the program's next leader for their women's distance program. Officially, Dunn will join the Tar Heels as a head coach for women's cross country and will hold an assistant coach title for the indoor track and outdoor track seasons.
Dunn brings a wide range of athletic and coaching experience to Chapel Hill. Most recently, she served as the head cross country and track and field coach at The Covenant School in Charlottesville, Virginia. There, her distance program found great success, with The Covenant girls winning Virginia cross country state titles in 2022 and 2023 while the boys won state gold in 2024.
Individual standouts to come out of The Covenant's distance program include Jon Nathan Lawrence, Sadie Adams, Reese Dalton and Maddie Gardiner. It is important to note that both Dalton and Gardiner will be juniors at UNC this fall when they reunite with their high school coach.
Collegiately, Dunn has also spent time at Oklahoma, Kentucky and California. In addition to her coaching background, Dunn is the owner of Formula, a running and strength-training fitness studio, as well as Formula Track Club.
In a press release welcoming Dunn to the program, UNC's Director of Cross Country and Track & Field, Chris Miltenberg, expressed his excitement about the hire.
“Throughout a national search, I kept coming back to Ann because she is absolutely the perfect person for this role at the perfect time.”
In the same press release, Miltenberg further highlighted Dunn's background noting her extensive knowledge surrounding training philosophies.
As an athlete, Dunn was a multi-time NCAA Championship qualifier for both indoor track and outdoor track. She earned her undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Wisconsin before earning her master’s degree in exercise physiology from the University of Oklahoma.
Dunn will now oversee an accomplished North Carolina women's distance program that has placed 11th (2025), 11th (2024), 5th (2022), 14th (2021, fall) and 14th (2021, winter) at the NCAA XC Championships in recent years.