Maatoug Places Fourth, Frias Tapped ACC Freshman of the Year

Friday, October 28

Charlottesville, Va.

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ACC Championships

Photo by: ACC Photography

Maatoug Places Fourth, Frias Tapped ACC Freshman of the Year

10/28/2022 4:59:00 PM | Cross Country

MEN'S RESULTS (PDF)WOMEN'S RESULTS (PDF)

EARLYSVILLE, Va. – Sophomore Amina Maatoug turned in a fourth-place finish and freshman Dalia Frias garnered ACC Freshman of the Year honors to headline a solid morning of racing for Duke cross country at the 2022 ACC Cross Country Championships Friday at the Panorama Farms course.

Maatoug positioned herself among the front of the women's field from the jump and never looked back as she raced to a fourth-place finish via a blistering 6K time of 19:41.8, earning All-ACC honors in the process. Frias kept her stellar freshman season going as she claimed the league's top-freshman honor, after posting the fastest time of all true women's freshmen for the fourth time in as many meets. The Hermosa Beach, Calif., product clocked 20:28.4 to place 31st overall.

The fourth-place finish by Maatoug was the highest by a Blue Devil runner since 2020, while Frias was the first Duke woman to take home Freshman of the Year honors since 2017. Both feats were achieved by former Duke distance standout and current volunteer assistant coach Michaela Reinhart.

Overall, the Blue Devils competed well among a men's and women's field that featured a combined 12 teams ranked in the USTFCCCA Coaches Poll. Both squads finished seventh in the team standings, with the 29th-ranked Duke men totaling 181 points in the 8K race while the women's squad finished the 6K with 195 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke's formidable 1-2 punch of Maatoug and Frias once again led the charge for the Blue Devil women, as the pair posted the top-two finishes for Duke for the fourth time in as many meets.
Maatoug collected All-ACC honors and picked up her third top-five finish of the season, notching a sub-20 minute 6K time of 19:41.8 to finish fourth among the field.
Frias was the next to cross the finish line, checking in in 31st place via a time of 20:28.4. Her time was the fastest of all true freshmen on the women's side, crowning her the ACC Freshman of the Year.
Ashlyn Ramos (20:40.3), Katie Hamilton (21:07.6) and Karly Forker (21:09.1) rounded out the top-five finishers for the Blue Devils women, as the trio placed 44th, 60th and 61st, respectively.
The Duke men showed strong pack running as the squad's top-five finishers concluded the race within 20 spots of each other.
Chris Theodore (28th) and Zach Kinne (33rd) led the charge for the Duke men, running their respective 8K races in 23:32.1 and 23:38.9, respectively.
Matyas Csiki-Fejer (23:42.1) and Owen MacKenzie (23:42.3) finished shortly afterwards, going back-to-back at 36th and 37th.
Austin Gabay clocked 23:57.5 to place 48th.
The full results can be found here: MEN | WOMEN

QUOTES

"I think both teams competed very well today and executed our race plans almost perfectly. The men packed up really well and finished seventh, right where we were predicted to finish. The women had a really solid showing as a team, finishing four points out of sixth place. We were led by an impressive fourth-place finish from Amina Maatoug and Dalia Frias's 31st-place finish was the top among true freshman in the field. The ACC is one of the premier distance conferences in the NCAA, (with seven nationally ranked teams on the men's side and five on the women's). I am thrilled that we are making progress in the right direction as a program and look forward to build from today's results as we shift toward regionals." – head coach Angela Reckart on the team's performance

"I'm definitely happy with how it went. I definitely took it out a little harder than I wanted it to. So, I kind of paid the price for that at the last 2K but overall, I'm really happy with it and I'm excited for what this team can do because I think we did really today … It feels great. Coming out of high school, I was kind of nervous [about] how college training would be. So, it just shows that things are looking great and progressing well." – freshman Dalia Frias on her first conference meet and winning ACC Freshman of the Year

UP NEXT
Postseason action will continue for the Blue Devils, as both teams will be back in action on Nov. 11 at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park in Louisville, Ky.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils cross country and track & field, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeTFXC."

#GoDuke