After two exhausting days at the ACC Championships, Duke track and field can boast four new school records and high hopes for what lies ahead. The seventh place men's finish and the eighth place women's finish hardly represent the caliber of several of Duke's individual performances.
For the men, the hero of the weekend was junior Bill Spierdowis, who placed fifth in the 800-meter run with a new school record of 1:52.30. Although he missed the cross country season, Spierdowis has been making tremendous improvements and coach Norm Ogilvie is extremely optimistic about Spierdowis' NCAA future.
"Bill ran the 800 three times in a 24-hour period this weekend and still managed to break a school record on his third run," Ogilvie said. "He has great stamina and is only two seconds shy of an NCAA qualifying time. He is truly rounding into form right now and should peak at just the right time in his season."
Although Ogilvie cites Spierdowis as the highlight of the meet, he commended several other performances as well.
Junior Brendan Wells, running a tactical, composed race, claimed fifth in the one-mile run with a personal best time of 4:14.49, while Sean Kelly, bouncing back from a toe injury, had a strong performance in the 5000 meter run.
Senior Seth Benson settled for a fifth place finish in the pole vault. Although he placed second last year, this year's field of vaulters was much more competitive.
One of the best finishes for Duke was the distance medley relay, comprised of Spierdowis, senior Mike McKeever, sophomore Dave Maloney, and senior Terry Brennan. The team won third place and All-ACC honors.
Ogilvie also commended freshman Chris Williams, one of the top rookie distance runners in the ACC, for his personal best of 8:31.51 in the 3,000-meter run, as well as Maloney's near record-breaking performance in the 400-meter dash.
The women turned out many noteworthy performances as well, but coach Jan Ogilvie found it to be a frustrating meet for the coaching staff. One day prior to the meet, Ogilvie pulled five of her top runners who have been struggling with illness throughout the season out of the meet.
"We had a small group," Ogilvie said, "but they performed extremely well. Once we have a full, healthy squad, we could move up one or two spots in the ACC rankings."
Jillian Schwartz's domination of the pole vault continued Friday as she took the ACC title and once again broke her own record. Schwartz's 12-foot-11 vault was over one foot higher than last year's winner.
On the track, sophomore Sheela Agrawal opened her season by finishing in second place with a provisional qualifying time of 9:32.33 in the 3,000-meter. Megan Sullivan took fourth in the same event with her second best time of the season, 9:36.94.
Katie Atlas, in a heated 800-meter dash, captured third place, breaking her own record with a time of 2:08.39, while sophomore Jodi Schlesinger improved upon her performance last week by jumping a foot farther in the triple jump to sail into fifth place. Schlesinger had raised the school record from 34'6" to close to 40 feet.
Another promising performance was that of the 4x400 relay, comprised of Janay McKie, Jenna Turner, Kristy Doody and Erin McClure. Competing together for the first time this season, the team took eighth and set a personal record.
Although the ACC championship meet was the climax of the indoor season, it was merely the beginning for many of Duke's athletes.
Next weekend, a small squad of men and women will travel to Blacksburg, Va., to compete in the last-chance qualifying meet, an extremely competitive meet that draws athletes from all over the country who are attempting to qualify for the IC4A and ECAC championship meets in Boston.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.