Clark Takes Silver at NCAA Indoor Championships

Saturday, March 14

Fayetteville, Ark.

All Day

Duke University

Day Two at NCAA Indoor Championships

Records Watch: Clark Earns Silver at NCAA Indoors

Clark Takes Silver at NCAA Indoor Championships

3/14/2015 11:26:00 PM | Track & Field

By: Duke Sports Information

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Duke track and field teams capped the final day of the indoor season with five student-athletes earning first team All-America accolades and two school records falling at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. In the team standings, the Blue Devil women finished tied for 21^st with 11 points, the second-highest placing by an ACC school behind Clemson with 15 points, while the men earned two points Friday to place tied for 57^th overall.

Junior Megan Clark saved the best performance of her career for the biggest meet of the year, earning the silver medal in the women's pole vault with a school-record clearance of 14-9.00 (4.50), improving her own mark of 14-5.25 (4.40) set in 2014. Clark became the first Duke women's pole vaulter to finish second at the NCAA Championships since Olympic pole vaulter Jillian Schwartz took silver at the 2001 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Vaulting consistently from the start, the Fort Benning, Ga., native cleared five of her seven successful heights on the first attempt, including her last three. After passing on her second and third attempts at 14-11.00 (4.55), Clark could not clear 15-1.00 (4.60), which would have tied the NCAA meet record set last spring.

“Megan was spectacular,” head coach Norm Ogilvie said. “Any time you're seeded fifth in the country and you come out second in the country, it's obviously a great day. We're really thrilled for Megan vaulting as high as she did. It was clearly her best meet of the season and it was great to see her step up to that level. Her performance today shows how tough of a competitor she is.”

The silver medal marks the seventh time this season that Clark finished either first or second in the pole vault. The first team All-America honor is the first of Clark's career, improving on her 14^th-place performance at the 2014 NCAA Indoor Championships that earned her second team accolades.

Also breaking its own Duke record, the women's 4x400 squad of seniors Lauren Hansson and Elizabeth Kerpon, sophomore Madeline Kopp and freshman Maddy Price combined to clock a time of 3:32.56, besting its previous mark of 3:34.00, to finish sixth and earn first team All-America honors.

“The women's 4x400 broke the school record by a second and a half and had two girls run under 53 seconds,” Ogilvie said. “They mixed it up with some of the best 4x400 teams in the country and competed extremely well.”

Finishing third in the second heat, all four runners ran splits under 54 seconds. Hansson kicked off the race with a 53.77 leg before handing off to Kopp who raced to a 52.41 split. Taking the third leg, Price clocked a split of 53.61, followed by Kerpon anchoring the relay with her 52.78 leg.

“We're very happy and looking forward to the start of the outdoor season,” Ogilvie said. “Right now, these athletes need to sit back and enjoy this.”

With the completion of the indoor season, Duke will begin the outdoor campaign with the Carolina Relays in Chapel Hill, N.C., March 20-21.

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