Blue Devils Record Season-Bests at Triangle College Cup

2/9/2010 7:00:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A number of Blue Devils had the chance to compete in the first-ever Triangle College Cup this past weekend, hosted by the Koury Natatorium. The meet served as a final chance for swimmers to earn NCAA “B” cuts before the ACC Championships.

The competition had the feel of a championship meet with preliminaries and finals on both Saturday and Sunday. Senior Shannon Skinner had a strong meet for the women, taking fifth place in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:55.25. She also finished ninth in the 100 freestyle, stopping the clock in 53.21 seconds.

Hunter Roux followed up the performance of Skinner with a fifth-place finish of his own in the 200 freestyle, recording Duke's second-fastest time of the season in the process (1:41.67).

Duke's top finishes of the meet were registered in the 400 IM. Junior Kaitlin Ray took third place while sophomore Alex Kluge took second for the Blue Devil men.

In the men's 500 freestyle, senior Andrew Clark and sophomore Nathan French took fifth and sixth place, respectively. Clark's time of 4:37.21 was the best by a Duke swimmer so far this season.

Freshman Adam Flur swam to two top-ten finishes, taking fifth in the 50 free and ninth in the 100 free.

The Duke men dominated the 200 breaststroke as Alex Kluge, Tim McDowell, and Evan Schwartz took spots two through four in the finals.

Sophomore Meghan Dwyer registered Duke's second-fastest time of the year in the 200 backstroke with her third-place time of 2:02.40.

In arguably the most grueling event in college swimming, the Blue Devils excelled. Rose O'Connor finished the 1650 freestyle in 17:17.35 to take third place while Andrew Clark completed the race in 15:46.33 for fourth.

The Blue Devils have two weeks to train and taper before the ACC Championships. The women's conference championships will begin on February 17 while the men's competition gets underway a week later on February 24. Both events will be held in Chapel Hill, N.C. on the campus of the University of North Carolina.

You can follow the Blue Devils over the course of the season by visiting https://twitter.com/dukeswimming.