Duke Women Convince ACC Outdoor Championship After Scoring ACC Record 145.5 Points

RALEIGH, NC The Duke women’s track and field team captured its second ACC Outdoor title and first outright title in the last three seasons as the Blue Devils completed a dominant and historic showing in the three-day conference meet Saturday night at the Paul Derr Athletics. Institute.

The Blue Devils won the ACC title as the teams combined for a whopping 145.5 points, 61 more than second place Virginia Tech. Duke’s 145.5 points in this year’s ACC Women’s Championship are the most since the ACC expanded to 15 teams in 2014, breaking Florida State’s previous record of 134 in 2019. On the men’s side, Duke finished ninth with 51 points. .

Overall, Duke claimed two ACC titles, produced 21 medals and earned 35 All-ACC honors over the weekend.

TOP PERFORMANCES

• Megan McGinnis headlined the Blue Devils’ performance Saturday as he captured a pair of medals in doing so in record fashion.
• After winning the indoor title in February, McGinnis completed a season sweep with a first-place finish in the outdoor 400m. The sophomore clocked a blistering personal best of 51.43 seconds to win the gold medal and first team honors while breaking the school record. Her time surpassed the previous record set by Brittany Aven in 2021 and is currently tied for 13th in the nation.
• McGinnis also captured a silver medal and All-ACC First Team honors in the women’s 200 meters after registering another personal best performance.
• The Roanoke, Va., product dropped a scorching 22.99 seconds just 0.03 off the school record to finish second and rank second all-time in program history.
• Duke completed the win by placing second in the women’s 4×400 meter relay. The parents’ foursome Carly Kingfreshman Lauren Tolbertgraduate student Madison Mulder and a freshman Julia Jackson produced the third-fastest time in school history, finishing the race in 3:29.95 to earn a silver medal and first-team honors.
• Graduate student Robbie Otal opened the afternoon with a bang, registering a silver medal in the men’s discus, which started Saturday off the table.
• Otal came through with his biggest throw on his third attempt. He threw the discus 59.67 meters (195-9 feet) to finish second and earn All-ACC First Team honors.
• Second year student Amina Maatoug kept his strong outdoor campaign going with another strong performance en route to a second place finish in the 1500m final.
• Maatoug won the silver medal and earned All-ACC First Team status after running a personal best time of 4:15.75, which is 4th all-time in program history.
• Second year student Abby Geiser collected first-team all-conference honors and a silver medal in the women’s 100 meters after registering the best race of her young career.
• Geiser finished the race in 11.34 seconds to top the Duke list, surpassing Aven’s previous record set in 2021 (11.35).
• Graduate student Believe in Agina was the next Blue Devil to reach the podium as she turned in a season-best performance to earn third place in the women’s high jump.
• Agina finished the competition with a final mark of 1.79 meters (5-10.50 feet) to collect the bronze medal and earn a nod to the all-conference second team, while moving up one spot to No. 3 all-time in Duke history.
• Classmate Isabel Wakefield picked up her second bronze medal of the weekend after achieving a personal best in the women’s 100m hurdles.
• Wakefield clocked 13.24 seconds for third place and All-ACC First Team honors, improving her all-time program time by 3.
• Senior Beau Allen recorded a new personal best in the men’s high jump en route to third place.
• Allen cleared a whopping 2.19 meters (7-2.25 ft) to collect bronze, All-ACC First Team honors and improve to the third-highest leap in the program’s record books.
• Hall Bieber earned a pair of bronze medals in the women’s 100m and 200m with personal bests in both events.
• Bieber clocked 11.35 seconds in the 100 meters to move into a tie for 2nd in the program record, while the senior ran 23.01 seconds in the 200 meters, the third-fastest time in program history.
• Second year students Abby Geiser and Amina Maatoug also earned All-ACC Second Team status Saturday after competing in the women’s 200-meter and 5,000-meter races.
• After doubling his 1500m race from earlier, Maatoug ran a career-fastest 5000m time of 15:59.63 to move to No. 4 all-time in the program standings, while Geiser set a personal best of 23.44 seconds. 200 m.
• Graduate student Emily Sloan also participated in the 100m hurdles and produced his best distance of the season. Sloan lowered the fourth-fastest time in Duke history with a run of 13.35 seconds to finish fourth overall and earn a second-team nod.
• Junior Brianna Smith competed in the women’s high jump and picked up her second all-conference honor over the weekend, clearing 1.76 meters (5-9.25 feet) to place fifth overall and garner All-ACC Second Team status.
• Duke’s all-conference honorees were starters Julia Jackson and Lauren Tolbert and junior Charlotte Tomkinson the trio earned second team honors in their respective events.
• Tomkinson recorded a personal best of 2:05.17 and finished fifth overall in the 800m. In the women’s 400 meters, Jackson and Tolbert finished back-to-back fifth and sixth with times of 52.80 seconds and 52.98 seconds.
• For full meeting results, click here.

BORROW

“I’m just excited to win our first championship solo and not be a back-to-back champion. I’m really proud of the team, not just for breaking the points record, but how we did it. We scored at every track today. [and] there were only four events in the entire meet where we didn’t score, and that’s exactly what we’ve been preaching about team athletics. We’re building a culture and you’re starting to see results.” Director of Athletics and Cross Country Shawn Wilbourn of the team’s performance at the ACC Outdoor Championships.

NEXT

Several Blue Devils await their fate at the NCAA East Regional Qualifiers, which will be held in Jacksonville, Fla., 24-27. May. The NCAA Outdoor Championships will be held from the 7th to the 10th. June in Austin, Texas.

ACC MEDALISTS

ALL-ACC FIXTURES

To stay up-to-date on Blue Devils cross country and track and field events, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook with the search term “DukeTFXC.”

#Good week