She has won three consecutive age-group national high jump titles and last winter won the Nike Indoor National high school championship.

"North Carolina has been my dream school for my whole life," Coleman said. "The school has all of the components that I wanted.

"I love [UNC track] coach Dennis Craddock. He is one of the genuine coaches in the country. I knew that I wanted to go there."

Coleman has a career-best jump of 6 feet and recently represented the United States in the world junior championships in Beijing.

She has an overall grade-point average of 4.309 and plans to enter the pre-med program and major in chemistry.

"She is one of the greatest kids in the world," said Pete Shankle, Southern's former athletics director. "If all the kids were like her, everybody would want to teach."

Coleman said she decided to commit now because she was tired of the recruiting process.

"It has been overwhelming," she said. "The telephone is blowing up. I need to be focusing on school now and not thinking about this day and night. It is good to not be stressed about my college decision."