In a competition filled with mixed results, Duke travelled to Louisville, Ky., for the ACC Indoor Championships this past weekend. While several Blue Devils did receive All-ACC recognition, the meet was the culmination of a relatively disappointing season riddled with injuries for head coach Shawn Wilbourn’s squad, particularly on the women’s side. The women finished 10th at the meet after Monday’s finale. However, the men’s fared much better than expected, finishing in a tie for seventh.
“We had a rough meet on the women's side. We didn't perform up to our standards. And I let the team know that after the meet, and I'm confident we'll step up and improve dramatically for the outdoor season,” Wilbourn said. “We’ll make some adjustments in the training. We had some injuries throughout the indoor season, and we were trying to get people healthy, and some weren't. We just didn't time it up like we needed to.”
Still, there were highlights on the women’s side, namely the 4x400m relay. Wilbourn has noted that event is the pillar of the program. The Blue Devils took home gold, finishing the mile-long race in just 3:31.88. Duke’s foursome beat runner-up Florida State by almost two seconds. The time also set the ACC Indoor Championships record by almost a second while setting a new program record.
“It's something that we talk about as a program, if our [4x400] is a solid bill, then the rest of our team will follow suit … They walked out on the track disappointed with how the meet had gone, but they were able to step up and win that event. It just showed that they have some pride and they believe in what we're doing,” Wilbourn said.
One of the runners in that 4x400 was freshman Braelyn Baker. The Carnation, Wash., native has been spectacular this season, contributing to a record-setting performance at the indoor championships. As for Wilbourn, he’s just excited to see where she goes in the next few years.
“She had moments in the meet she raced like a freshman, and she also had moments like in the 4x400 where she raced like a seasoned veteran. As she matures and gets older, we're gonna get more consistency out of her, but she is a budding superstar,” Wilbourn said.
The men's team, which also has been riddled with injuries, came into the meet not having finished in the top seven in 10 years. This weekend, the team came out in a tie for seventh place in a stacked ACC which added some powerhouses in the men’s track and field arena this season, like Stanford and Cal. The men’s team also finished just a half point out of sixth place.
“To add three very strong programs into the ACC and to get seventh and be that close to six while we had some key guys not able to compete because of injury, I was really proud of them and how well they performed,” Wilbourn said.
Headlining the men’s side was pole vaulter and Princeton transfer Simen Guttormsen. The graduate student from Ski, Norway, set an ACC record with his jump of 5.67m. This followed up an elite performance at the Darius Dixon Invitational hosted at Liberty, in which he improved upon his school record to reach a height of 5.67m. The performance from Guttormsen was no surprise to the team, however.
“Simen went into the meet very confident, looking great in practice. So we felt like, if he was on, then he was gonna win it. [We’re] super proud of him for setting that ACC record, and he's excited to head to the NCAA Championships. We're hoping for big things, so we're gonna go there and try to win it,” Wilbourn said.
Graduate student Christian Johnson also assured a bid after a runner-up finish in the men’s weight throw. Several more Blue Devils will await decisions on bids to the NCAA Championships that will occur in Virginia Beach, Va., beginning March 14.
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