Clark, Rohner Capture ACC Titles

Friday, February 26

Boston, Mass.

11:00 AM

Duke University

Day Two at ACC Indoor Championships

Clark, Rohner Capture ACC Titles

2/26/2016 9:02:00 PM | Track & Field

ACC Blog/Recap Meet Results

By: Duke Sports Information

BOSTON, Mass. – The Blue Devil track & field teams picked up right where they left off after Thursday's portion of the ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships, claiming two gold medals, six All-ACC honors and sending four runners to finals Friday in Boston, Mass., at the Reggie Lewis Center. Winning ACC titles were senior Megan Clark in the women's pole vault and fellow senior Robert Rohner in the heptathlon.

In the team standings, the No. 16 Duke women rank second with 38 points, trailing only Florida State with 40. On the men's side, the Blue Devils sit in fourth with 23 points and Syracuse leads the field with 32.

Looking for her second straight ACC indoor title in the women's pole vault, Clark did just that, clearing 14-10.00 (4.52m) to set the ACC Indoor Championship meet record. It was a hard-fought battle with Miami's Alysha Newman, who ultimately ended with a successful height of 14-6.00 (4.42m) to place second. Sophomore Madison Heath captured the bronze medal and first team All-ACC accolades in the event with a clearance of 13-8.25 (4.17m).

"Winning an ACC title is never a given," Clark said. "I go into every meet knowing that anything can happen, and it's true. At the end of the day, seeds don't matter. Alysha is a talented vaulter, and you can never count her out. I'm really grateful to have been able to defend my ACC title, and I look forward to watching the rest of my teammates compete."

After tallying 3,190 points to lead the heptathlon after day one, Rohner cemented the win with solid performances over the final three events, leading wire-to-wire and ending the competition with a personal-best 5,477 points. Sophomore Tanner Johnson, entering the day in third with 2,967 points, finished just 65 points behind Rohner to take the silver medal and first team All-ACC honors with his score of 5,412. Rohner's and Johnson's performances rank third and fourth, respectively, in Duke history, while Rohner's score would also be 23^rd nationally according to the NCAA Division I leaderboards heading into the weekend.

Starting in the 60-meter hurdles, Rohner ran a season-best 8.93, followed by Johnson's time of 9.00. Johnson dropped to fifth after the hurdles, but jumped back up to second thanks to a personal-best vault of 15-11.00 (4.85m) to tie for the best height among the field. Rohner remained in the lead after clearing 13-11.25 (4.25m).

With the Duke duo separated by just 61 points heading into the final event, Rohner was able to secure the conference crown with another personal record, running a 2:43.21 in the 1,000 to cross the line second. Johnson finished close behind, clocking a 2:43.62 to earn the silver medal.

“I had a really good day one, so that definitely gave me some momentum,” Rohner said. “I was just trying to take each event one at a time today because day two is usually my weaker events, but I knew if I did what I was capable of doing that I would be in a good spot … [placing first and second] is definitely what we were striving for. It's always fun having your teammate up there with you.”

The Blue Devils added points in both high jump competitions as redshirt senior Karli Johonnot and senior Carl Heinz recorded matching fourth-place finishes, earning second team All-ACC honors. After winning the pentathlon Thursday, Johonnot encored by clearing 5-9.75 (1.77m) in the women's high jump. Heinz cleared 6-10.75 (2.10m) on his final attempt, setting a personal best and ranking tied for third in the Duke records book, before going out at 6-11.75 (2.13m) in the men's event. Junior Maddie Morrow also scored for the Blue Devils, placing seventh in the women's high jump with a height of 5-7.25 (1.71m).

The Blue Devils advanced four student-athletes to Saturday's finals, including two in the women's 400. Junior Madeline Kopp produced a season-best 54.80 to finish fifth overall in prelims, followed by sophomore Maddy Price in sixth with a 54.82. On the men's side, sophomore Brett Bofinger missed qualifying for finals by finishing 12^th in prelims, but set a personal record with a time of 48.86 to rank third in the Duke records book.

Heading into the women's 800 with the top time in the conference, senior Anima Banks won her preliminary heat with a time of 2:07.93 to earn an automatic bid to Saturday's final. Also competing, rookie Kim Hallowes logged a personal-best time of 2:10.31 to finish 11^th overall. For the men, junior Dylan Murphy paced the Blue Devils, taking 14^th with a time of 1:52.95.

Running the mile, Duke sent one men's runner to finals and just missed sending another in the women's race. Junior Alec Kunzweiler crossed the line in a personal-best time of 4:07.25 to take seventh in the men's event and secure his spot in the finals, followed closely by fellow junior Stephen Shine in 12^th with his 4:11.32 performance. For the women, senior Olivia Anderson also set a career-best with her time of 4:46.93 to finish 11^th in the prelims, one spot away from qualifying for finals.

Representing Duke in the women's 60-meter hurdles, redshirt senior Teddi Maslowski narrowly missed qualifying for finals, running a preliminary time of 8.48 to place 10^th. Also competing in the women's long jump, Maslowski registered a mark of 18-6.50 (5.65m) to take 12^th overall.

Duke will return to the Reggie Lewis Center Saturday for the final day of the ACC Indoor Championships, starting with field events at 11 a.m. and running events at noon. The meet will be aired on ESPN3 from 1-4 p.m.

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