Blue Devil Track & Field Ready For ACC Championships

4/15/2009 3:00:00 PM | Track & Field

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? The Duke men's and women's track & field squads are headed to Miami, Fla., to take part in the 2009 ACC Outdoor Track & Field Championships from Thurs., April 16 through Sat., April 18 at the University of Miami's Cobb Stadium. Florida State will be looking for the repeat on the men's side, and Virginia Tech on the women's.

Be sure to follow all the action live on the web via Flash Results. Additionally, ACC Select will carry selected portions of the meet on Friday and Saturday, which can be accessed by clicking on the attached links. Streaming coverage for Friday will run from 3:30-7:30pm, and from 4-8pm on Saturday.

Both squads have made significant strides in improving upon last season's ACC finishes, where the Duke men took ninth with 36 total points and the women 12th while scoring 11.

The meet also carries Carlyle Cup implications, with one point each on the men's and women's side up for grabs between Duke and North Carolina. The Carlyle Cup is a year-long competition between the rivals, sponsored by Carlyle & Co. of Greensboro, N.C. Since 2003, Duke leads the Tobacco Road series, 5-4. Carolina currently leads the series, 11.5-8.5, but the track & field squads have an opportunity to make up ground for the Blue Devils if they can finish ahead of UNC in the team standings.

The Blue Devils have seen 11 NCAA Regional marks set this season, in addition to numerous IC4A and ECAC marks which will qualify performers for the postseason. This weekend's competition will give Duke another opportunity to reach those marks, in addition to the next three meets ? the Penn Relays, the Duke Twilight, and the UNC Last Chance. Duke has taken to rewriting the school record books this season as well.

Amy Fryt has made a splash this outdoor season in the pole vault, winning all four meets in which she competed and remaining undefeated in the conference. Fryt has leapt 12-11.5 on two occasions, both regional standards for the sophomore from Goldsboro, N.C. She is the second all-time performer in Duke history behind only Olympian Jillian Schwartz.

Also highlighting Duke's outstanding field event performances this spring has been senior Jade Ellis, who notched regional marks in both the long jump and triple jump so far this outdoor season. In the long jump, Ellis' distance of 25-0.5 was a Duke record as he is now the only Blue Devil to leap over 25-feet both indoors and outdoors. He has also spent time anchoring Duke's 4x100m relay over the past two weekends. Ellis is the school record-holder in the triple jump as well, setting that mark back in 2005.

In the men's javelin, both John Austin and Robert Weinstein have made regional marks this season, with Austin going 209-11 and Weinstein 202-7 to pace the Blue Devils. Austin earned All-ACC honors last season in the event. The women's javelin has also produced a regional qualifier in Amy Matulewicz, who threw 150-5 ? good for second all-time at Duke ? at the Wake Forest Open to open the outdoor slate. Also in the field, Mike Schallmo has notched his postseason mark in the discus, throwing 170-2 for a new Duke school record in the event.

On the track, Molly Lehman has qualified regionally in both the 800m (2:08.00) and the 1500m (4:20.40). Both are top-five times at Duke.

Ryan McDermott rounds out the Blue Devils' qualifying marks as he set the NCAA regional standard in the 3000m steeplechase, running 9:00.23, good for third all-time at Duke.

The Blue Devils will open competition tomorrow at 2 p.m. with the men's hammer throw, where Schallmo will compete. Tyler Clarke and Karolina Haraldsdottir will then begin day one of the decathlon and heptathlon, respectively, before Weinstein and Austin throw the javelin. Duke's running events begin tomorrow at 8 p.m. with Christy Adamyk, Carly Seymour, and Emily Schwitzer in the women's 10K and James Osborne in the men's.

On Friday, Haraldsdottir and Clarke will complete the multi-events, while Michael Barbas and Schallmo will throw the shot put and Ellis goes in the long jump. Highlighting the track events for Duke during day two will be Lehman, Farias-Eisner, Mary Carleton Johsnton, and Esther Vermeer in the women's 1500m and Cory Nanni, Stephen Clark, Bo Waggoner, Joshua Lund, James Kostelnik, and Ken Sullivan for the men.

Chris Rowland, Brendon Pierson, Oswald, and Clark will go in the 800m. The steeple will see Patricia Loughlin ? an All-Region performer in 2008 ? while McDermott and Will Smith will tackle the event on the men's side.

Duke wraps things up on Saturday, where Fryt and her Blue Devil teammates will go in the pole vault and Schallmo and Barbas will throw the discus. Ellis will round out his slate with the triple jump.

The Blue Devils will enter both 4x100 and 4x400 relay squads, while each side sends strong fields in the 5K to conclude the conference meet.

Following the conference championships, Duke is back in action next weekend at the historic Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pa., from April 23-25.

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