What the women's track team lacks in experience, it makes up for in raw talent, as the Blue Devils found out this weekend at the ACC Championships in Clemson, S.C.
Unfortunately, the non-scholarship team does not have enough raw talent to propel itself out of the ACC cellar, as Duke finished in ninth place with 17 points, far away from eighth-place N.C. State, which had 58.5 points.
Three Blue Devils-Katie Atlas, Ellie Culp and Jillian Schwartz-scored in the top eight in their events, though none of them had seriously competed in the ACC Championships before.
Although both Culp and Schwartz are sophomores, both were hindered by injuries last year.
"This is really the first serious ACC Championships for all three of them," coach Jan Samuelson-Ogilvie said.
Schwartz turned in the highest finish for a Blue Devil at the meet, standing on the podium with a third-place score in the pole vault. She cleared the same 11-foot, 3 3/4-inch height as second-place finisher Mandy McLane of Clemson but dropped to third place because she had missed more vaults.
Schwartz won the Duke Invitational two weeks ago and also competed in the high jump and 100-meter hurdles at ACCs.
Sophomore Ellie Culp did not run at all during her freshman year and has consistently finished well in her distance events this year. Culp finished fifth in the 3000 with a time of 10:06.68.
"To perform the way she did in the 3000 is outstanding," Samuelson-Ogilvie said. "She had to beat some really big names to finish fifth."
Freshman Katie Atlas battled 30-40 mile per hour winds to finish seventh in the 800 with a time of 2:19.21.
"What you ended up doing was fighting against the wind on the straightaway," Samuelson-Ogilvie said. "It was almost as if the stronger prevailed. I've never seen anything like it in this part of the country."
The women's team is still reeling from the injuries to three seniors who are just returning to competition: Jeanie Minton, Fay Wells and Maria Monge.
Along with two relay teams, Schwartz, Culp and Atlas will compete in next weekend's Penn Relays.
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