The word "Due" read from top-down and "South" left-right, with the U shared between them. Reminiscent of a compass.

Due South

Masters track champion trains for Olympic trials, while coaching middle schoolers to success

By Leoneda Inge,

Published January 10, 2024 at 12:22 PM EST

Ericka Charles was a track star in high school and earned a scholarship to East Carolina University. Unfortunately, her college career didn't go nearly as well and the disappointment almost made her hang up her running shoes.

But after the death of her beloved uncle NC State basketball champion Lorenzo Charles, Ericka Charles re-dedicated herself to pursuing her dreams. Now the 34-year-old is running some of her best times yet.

As Charles trains for the 2024 Olympic trials, she also has a job as a middle school cross country coach. Charles is on the autism spectrum and tells co-hosts Leoneda Inge and Jeff Tiberii how coaching kids pushes her to challenge herself in ways that extend well beyond the race course.

Guest
Ericka Charles, Women's 30-34 800m National Champion and Durham School of the Arts middle school cross country coach

Due South

Leoneda Inge

Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.

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Jeff Tiberii

Jeff Tiberii is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Jeff joined WUNC in 2011. During his 20 years in public radio, he was Morning Edition Host at WFDD and WUNC’s Greensboro Bureau Chief and later, the Capitol Bureau Chief. Jeff has covered state and federal politics, produced the radio documentary “Right Turn,” launched a podcast, and was named North Carolina Radio Reporter of the Year four times.

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Rachel McCarthy

Rachel McCarthy is a producer for "Due South." She previously worked at WUNC as a producer for "The Story with Dick Gordon." More recently, Rachel was podcast managing editor at Capitol Broadcasting Company where she developed narrative series and edited a daily podcast. She also worked at "The Double Shift" podcast as supervising producer. Rachel learned about audio storytelling at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Prior to working in audio journalism, she was a research assistant at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.

See stories by Rachel McCarthy