Pioneer Pair Sign On Dotted Line

Sabrina Bunar didn't go to the Hudson 29 restaurant, just steps from the Ohio State campus, looking for a life-changing event. It just worked out that way.

Last summer the Lynnfield senior and two-time state diving champion was attending the Junior Olympic Diving National Championships with her family when a chance meeting with the North Carolina swim coach at the restaurant led to Wednesday's event at the high school. Surrounded by her family, Bunar signed a national letter of intent to attend the University of North Carolina.

Bunar wasn't alone. Moments later the Tarheel Blue and White balloons were replaced with maroon and gold and Lynnfield senior Kate Mitchell signed her letter of intent to run track at Boston College.

Bunar gives credit to her mother Andrea for the events that led to North Carolina.

"I have five official recruits I'm allowed to take and [NC] wasn't in my top 5 at all," said Bunar. "My mom saw [the UNC coach] sitting behind us and was like 'hey that's the UNC coach, we have to talk to him.' So we turned around and talked to him for a little bit. He offered me an official recruit and I went on the trip. That was my first trip I took and I absolutely fell in love with it. I was like, this is a really cool school. Academically it's amazing. Athletically it's amazing.

"I want a healthy balance between academics and athletics. I obviously have to think about my future after I dive too. I have an Olympic dream and I want to reach that Olympic dream but I also want to excel academically. So UNC was the best choice out of all the schools."

Bunar also visited Duke and Texas, where she stayed with friend and former Concord-Carlisle state diving champion Meghan O'Brien. But in the end a chance meeting led to her home for the next four years.

"We just happened to end up at the same restaurant," said Bunar.

For Mitchell, the decision to attend the Heights was about track as well as getting a job.

"One of the biggest things is that academically it's one of the top schools in my mind, especially for what I want to do. I want to go into business with a computer science minor and the Carroll School of Management is top in the nation so it was very easy to chose academically," said Mitchell, who also looked at Dartmouth and Holy Cross. "But one of the biggest things I was looking for beside a great track program was a sense of school spirit. Just being on the campus on my visit I just felt a huge sense of community at the school and that's something that I really loved."

It might seem odd that part of that community feel came during the Eagles' 49-20 loss to Notre Dame. "One of the things I was telling my dad is that they're down so much now but look at the fan section. They were still going even though their team was getting crushed. Seeing that, it was definitely something I want to be a part of."

Mitchell won the 800 title at the Division 4 outdoor track championship last May and was third in the 800 at the All-State outdoor meet. The indoor and outdoor team Pioneer captain was sixth in the indoor All-State 1,000 last February. The week before she was third in the event at the Division 5 meet.

Much like Lynnfield High School, BC doesn't have its own track. Meaning, she feels right at home.

"Growing up here, it's not like I've had a track to run on, living in Lynnfield," said Mitchell, who pointed out BC runs at Reggie Lewis, BU, and Harvard, all tracks she's familiar with. "It's not going to be different for me. They're running on the top tracks in the nation."

Photos by Bob Holmes of Sabrina Bunar with father Michael, mother Andrea, and sister Samantha; and Kate Mitchell with sisters Lauren and Ashley, mother Anne, and father Michael.