CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Blue Devil throwers dominated the field on day two of the 2012 ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships coming away with two first place finishes and two second places finishes in the shot put and javelin throw. After two days of competition, the women's squad stands in first with 55 points. Thirty-three points have come from the throws events. The men's squad sits in fourth place with 39 points.
"We had a good day today, assistant coach B.J. Linnenbrink commented. "We have been working hard all spring and backed off on our training a little bit to prepare for this weekend and it paid off. We aren't finished yet. We have built a good momentum and are expecting big things going into tomorrow."
Sophomore Michelle Anumba picks up Duke's first title of the weekend in the women's shot put with a personal record and school record breaking mark of 56-4.5(17.18). The Rancho Cucamongo, Calif., native dominated the field and won the event with her first throw of the afternoon. Sophomore Erica Brand also participated in the event finishing in ninth with a throw of 44-11.00 (13.69).
"Overall, I felt really good," Anumba commented with a smile. "This whole weekend I've been working on just putting the pieces together and it all happened, especially on the first throw."
Duke went one-two in the women's javelin with junior Shannon Sullivan throwing a personal record mark of 159-02(48.51). She was followed closely by teammate junior Andrea Hopkins who threw a second place mark of 154-11(47.22). Overall, the duke women's throwers have collected 33 out of the women's 55 points.
On the men's side, sophomore Curtis Beach finished second in the men's decathlon with a point total of 7,764. He was defeated by Florida State's Gonzalo Barroilhet who finished with a conference championship record point total of 8,065. Freshman Ian Rock performed well enough to score in his first outdoor conference championships with a sixth place finish and 6,585 points. The mark also placed him fourth on Duke's all-time list. The Davis Calif., native earned a personal record in the javelin throw with a mark of 165-03(50.38). Freshman Terrence Neal finished in tenth place with 4992 points.
Senior Michael Barbas threw a personal record 59-02.00(18.03) in the men's shot put to place second in the event and earn All-ACC Honors.
In the women's heptathlon, freshman Teddi Maslowski finished strong in the women's heptathlon to finish in fourth place overall with a total of 4873 points, narrowly missing the podium. However her final point total was good enough to place her second the Duke all-time list. Sophomore Miray Seward also scored in the event by finishing in eighth place with a total of 4305 points.
Two Blue Devils qualified for finals, which will take place tomorrow, including Carolyn Baskir in the 1500 who ran a qualifying time of 4:30.66 and Cydney Ross who ran a time of 2:07.31 in the women's 800 meter run.
To close out the meet, junior Dominick Robinson ran to a seventh place finish in the men's 3,000 meter steeplechase by finishing in a time of 9:17.01 to earn Duke's final points of the day. Freshman Shaun Thompson finished in ninth in a gutsy performance that included a fall over one of the barriers.
The final day of competition will take place tomorrow beginning at 10 a.m. with the men's high jump. A full recap of the day will be available at www.GoDuke.com.
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