The men's indoor track placed ninth in the Atlantic Coast Conference championships in Greensboro this weekend despite some stellar individual performances and a surprisingly strong distance medley relay.
Senior pole vaulter Matt Anderson, who cleared 15-3, was the top competitor for the Blue Devils, placing sixth in the conference. Anderson's vault, which was his personal best indoors, was three inches short of the qualifying mark for the Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association of America (IC4A). He barely missed clearing the bar at the next increment, 15-9.
Anderson should have another chance to qualify for IC4As next weekend at a meet in Chapel Hill.
"We are extremely proud of Matt Anderson," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said. "He competed exceptionally well."
While Anderson's performance may have been the Blue Devils' best of the meet, the distance medley relay team provided the most drama with its (literally) photo finish. The squad's 10:17.53 performance was good for fifth place, .002 seconds ahead of the relay team from Clemson.
Freshman Scott Wolckenhauer led off for the Blue Devils with a 1:57.5 split in the 800-meters, which left Duke in fifth place in the race. Freshman Jason Manse then took the baton and ran his best 400-meters of the season, recording a 51.2 quarter. During the second leg of the race, Virginia slipped ahead of the Blue Devils, who were in sixth.
Junior Miles Hall, who has missed most of the indoor season due to an injury, then ran the 1,200-meter portion of the relay in 3:06.8. He moved the Duke team within sight of Clemson.
"Miles Hall ran like a champ," Ogilvie said.
Entering the final leg of the race, the Blue Devils should have been content. The team seemed almost certain to achieve its goal of a sixth-place finish in the event. However, junior Pat Kelly pushed the squad even further, running the first quarter of his 1,600-meter run in a blazing 59 seconds to try to keep pace with UVa superstar Rob Cook.
Although Kelly could not maintain this pace for his entire race, he was able to make up ground with the Tigers and was within 15 meters with half a lap remaining. Kelly completed it in a hurry, leaning his shoulder across the finish line just ahead of his counterpart from Clemson.
"Pat's strength is what proved to be his saving grace," Ogilvie said. "Even though he had run the mile earlier in the day, he was stronger than the Clemson runner."
Seven hours before the distance medley relay, Kelly had placed 10th in the mile with his 4:19.63 run. Although the meet was run on a short track not conducive to fast times, this was his second-best time ever indoors.
Manse also repeated his strong performance in Friday's relay with a 51.7 second split in the 4x400-meter relay on Saturday. Prior to the ACC meet, Manse had not broken the 53-second barrier in the event.
Senior Kevin Hilton, who had not raced in nearly a month, placed ninth in the 3,000-meters with his 8:39.11 performance. Freshman J.R. Lockwood ran his best 800-meters of the season, finishing in 1:59.84.
A pair of jumpers also had solid performances in the meet for the Blue Devils. Sophomore Jeff Smith leapt 6-6 in the high jump, and junior Tijan Redmon had a 20-8 long jump.
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