Blue Devils take third at ACCs

Virginia continued its dominance at the ACC championship over the weekend, winning three of four races to take its 12th conference title in 13 years.

The Cavaliers racked up 56 points, edging second-place Clemson by four. Duke finished in third place with 39 points after recording top-three finishes in three races, highlighted by the varsity four boat’s second-place finish.

“We wanted to do better, but we weren’t able to get it done,” head coach Robyn Horner told GoDuke.com. “Our varsity four and our freshman boat really elevated and did a great job. Our [first varsity eight] and [second varsity eight] didn’t execute and do as well as they could have, so it was a good weekend for part of our team and a little frustrating for the other part of our team. We are going to try to regroup here and use what we learned from this weekend to move forward.”

Senior Kathy Smithwick and junior Emily Theys—both members of the Blue Devils’ first varsity eight boat—were named to the All-ACC team.

Duke’s varsity four boat finished behind Clemson with a time of 7:46.6, marking the first time the Blue Devils have beaten Virginia in ACC championship history.

—from staff reports