Pole Vault Paces Duke on Day 1 of ACC Championships

Friday, May 13

Tallahassee, Fla.

All Day

Duke University

Day One at ACC Outdoor Championships

Pole Vault Paces Duke on Day 1 of ACC Championships

5/13/2016 10:25:00 PM | Track & Field

Day 1 Results

By: Duke Sports Information

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With most of Friday's races serving as preliminary heats and after only three scored events for both the men and women, the Duke track & field program found a spark from its pole vaulters to kick off the first day of the 2016 ACC Outdoor Championships in Tallahassee, Fla.

Heading into Saturday's portion of the meet, the Duke women find themselves well within reach of the title with 14 points, trailing only Virginia with 16 points and Syracuse and Miami with 15 apiece. Virginia Tech rounds out the top five after day one with 11.1 points. On the men's side, the Blue Devils currently sit in 10^th with one point, while Virginia Tech (57), NC State (13), Virginia (10), Syracuse (9) and Notre Dame (8) make up the top five.

Highlighting the day for Duke was the women's pole vault duo of senior Megan Clark and sophomore Madison Heath. The pair combined to score all 14 team points for the Duke women and garnered first team All-ACC recognition in the process. After claiming gold last year at the outdoor conference championships, Clark cleared 14-3.50 (4.36m) Friday to finish second, followed immediately by Heath capturing the bronze medal with a height of 13-7.75 (4.16m).

Competing for the men, junior Connor Hall put the Blue Devil men on the scoreboard with an eighth-place showing. The native of San Luis Obispo, Calif., cleared 16-1.75 (4.92m), a season best to give Duke one point.

Elsewhere in the field events, freshman Stefani Vukajlovic used a mark of 178-11 (54.54m) to finish 10^th overall in the women's hammer throw. Senior Michael Foley served as Duke's top performer on the men's side, placing 11^th with a throw of 191-9 (58.44m).

The first day of the heptathlon ended with redshirt senior Teddi Maslowski putting herself within striking distance of a podium finish, trailing first place by just 141 points to sit in fourth with 3,311 points. Maslowski produced top-three performances in three of Friday's four events, highlighted by the fastest 200 time at 23.92 to pick up 988 points. The Burgettstown, Pa., native also had the second-best 100-meter hurdles showing with a 13.58 for 1,039 points and the third-farthest shot put throw, measuring in at 38-4.00 (11.68m) for 640 points. Competing alongside Maslowski, freshman Jaida Lemmons currently ranks 10^th with 2,925 points, while redshirt senior Karli Johonnot withdrew from the competition due to injury during the second event.

Competing as Duke's lone competitor in the decathlon, junior Chaz Hawkins took an early lead after the first event, clocking a 10.86 in the 100 to pace the field with 892 points, but fouled on all three of his attempts in the long jump. After adding a combined 1,155 points in the shot put and high jump, Hawkins ended day one with another win, crossing the line first in the 400 with a time of 48.65 for 878 points. Hawkins heads into Saturday in 13^th place with 2,925 points.

On the track, Duke advanced five student-athletes to Sunday's finals, led by all three Blue Devil competitors in the women's 1,500 finishing in the top two of their respective heats to earn automatic spots. Running in heat two, senior Anima Banks crossed the line second with a time of 4:22.71, while senior Madison Granger and freshman Liz Lansing finished first and second, respectively, in heat three with times of 4:26.66 and 4:27.41. The Duke trio logged three of the top-five preliminary performances, with Banks, Granger and Lansing placing second, third and fifth overall.

Running in the men's 1,500, junior Alec Kunzweiler claimed an automatic spot in the final by taking third in his section, clocking a 3:46.88 for the sixth-best prelim time. Sophomore Josiah Hanko just missed advancing with his preliminary time of 3:48.91, taking 13^th to finish one spot out of qualifying territory.

Sophomore Maddy Price accomplished exactly what she needed to Friday as she claimed the last spot for Sunday's 200 final. Running in heat four, Price clocked a 24.02 to finish second in her section and eighth overall to grab an at-large spot.

Senior Matthew Rodio led the Blue Devils in the prelims of the 400-meter hurdles, taking ninth in the men's race with a 53.29 showing to just miss qualifying for finals. Junior Michael Wilson finished close behind in 14^th with a 54.40 clocking, while freshman India Lowe placed 18^th in the women's race with a preliminary time of 1:03.16.

Rounding out running events with the lone finals races of the day, the senior duo of Daniel Moore and William Rooney placed 19^th and 24^th, respectively, in the men's 10,000, stopping the clock at 31:35.73 and 33:19.91.

The ACC Championships will continue Saturday with the second day of competition, beginning at 10 a.m. with field events. ESPN3 will again provide coverage of the meet starting at 6 p.m.

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