Seniors Laura Stanley and Clara Horowitz each took home ACC individual titles this weekend, as the Track and Field team completed its indoor ACC schedule at the conference championships in Blacksburg, Va.
Both the men's and women's teams finished toward the bottom of the standings, with the men finishing 11th and the women eighth. Nonetheless, the individual performances of Stanley and Horowitz were the highlights of the weekend.
Stanley took home the gold in the 5,000 meters Friday with her second fastest time of the season, 16:33.84. The following day, Horowitz won the 3,000 meters with a time of 9:23.85.
"We were really happy with Laura and Clara's performance this weekend," associate head coach Kevin Jermyn said. "Two of our team's goals for the weekend were for them both to take home titles, and they both accomplished that feat."
It was Stanley's first race in three weeks, and her fresh legs proved to be the difference for the senior in her last indoor ACC race.
"I felt in much better shape after my workouts the last three weeks," Stanley said. "I felt confident that I could contend for the win."
Prior to the race, Stanley met with her coaches to go over strategy.
"We decided that the best way for me to run would be to hang back and sit on the leaders for as much as possible," Stanley said. "With about 400 meters to go I started to catch....I let the others do most of the work in the beginning of the race. I felt very relaxed."
Jermyn was confident in Stanley's ability to close races and felt that this was the best way for her to take home her first ACC title.
"Laura has a really strong finishing kick," he said. "We were confident that this was the best strategy for her."
Unlike her teammate, whose final push brought her to victory, Horowitz won her race easily.
Horowitz took command right out of the gate, taking the lead in the first lap. At around the 800-meter mark, she began to increase her lead and proceeded to coast to victory-finishing five seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
"Clara won her event in dominating fashion," Jermyn said. "She's been running at a high level all year, and we were extremely confident coming in."
On the men's side, freshman Chris Rowland ran the second-best 800-meter indoor time in school history and finished seventh in the finals with a time of 1:52.43.
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