Blue Devils Take Second at ACC Championship

Saturday, May 14

Clemson, S.C.

All Day

Duke University

Day Two at ACC Championship

Blue Devils Take Second at ACC Championship

5/14/2016 1:24:00 PM | Rowing

ACC Championship Homepage NCAA Spring Championship Selection Show Information Results

By: Duke Sports Information

CLEMSON, S.C. – The Duke rowing team ended the ACC Championship in strong fashion Saturday, using a pair of photo finishes to claim second place at Lake Hartwell. The Blue Devils' V8, 2V8 and V4 all finished second in the Grand Finals Saturday with the 3V8 taking the petite final championship.

In addition to the team overall success, Megan Cooke Carcagno was named ACC Coach of the Year while seniors Katie Dukovich and Alex Stonehill were placed on the All-ACC First Team with senior coxswain Simone Pitre on the second squad.

“It's such an honor to receive the individual award, especially in the ACC where I have so much respect for the league and its coaches,” Cooke Carcagno said. “Many of the coaches in the league have been mentors to me. But really, that honor is bestowed on our entire staff, from our assistant coaches, to our volunteer coaches to our athletic trainers. We're a family and we did this together. Congratulations to Kevin Sauer and Virginia on another championship and thanks to Clemson for doing a wonderful job hosting."

In the overall standings, Virginia finished with 99 total points, followed by the Blue Devils and Syracuse with 75 points each, Notre Dame (68), Louisville (60), Clemson (47), Boston College (31), Miami (22) and North Carolina (16). The Blue Devils' second-place performance was the team's best since taking second in 2006. Duke was awarded second on a tiebreaker with Syracuse as the Blue Devils' V8 boat finished ahead of the Orange's.

“As a team, everybody stepped up majorly and did their job today,” Cooke Carcagno said. “I mean that from the coaching staff to the trainers to all four boats that raced today. Every single boat, coach and trainer performed at their absolute best today. That's what got our second place finish as a team.

"We took some major losses this year, but we've been training through every race," Cooke Carcagno continued. We've consistently tested ourselves against the top-five teams in the country. Not many other programs have done that. Today it paid off for us. Having trained through all these hard races during the year certainly made a big difference for us in the end today. And a big thank you to Simon Carcagno for all his rigging this year."

Duke's V8 turned in the biggest turnaround of the weekend, entering the championship as the No. 5 seed and claiming the second spot. The Blue Devils' 2V8 and V4 also outrowed their seed as they began in the No. 3 position.

Racing began Saturday with the V8 setting the tone as it edged out Syracuse in a photo finish, 6:20.444 to 6:20.495 to come in second. Virginia won the race with a time of 6:14.989. As members of the V8, Dukovich and Stonehill received their First Team All-ACC accolades.

“We made a few changes in the last week and almost reversed the entire order of the boat from when we were at Princeton,” Cooke Carcagno said. “It worked and just clicked today. They'd been searching for unity and confidence all season, and today they found it in a major way. They had their day and deserved every moment of today. The last 250 meters of sprinting was icing on the cake. I would have been happy with a third-place finish, but I was overcome with joy when they came in second. It was just incredible. It was a testament to the people in that boat and the heart they all have.”

The 2V8 followed suit with another photo finish to take second, slipping past Notre Dame 6:32.322-6:32.326. The Cavaliers won in 6:25.411.

“Those guys are nothing but heart and soul,” Cooke Carcagno said of her All-ACC performers. “Simone and Meagan Lew are both amazing coxswains and bring different skills to the boats. Today, both coxswains did an excellent job. The second-place for the 2V8 was the clutch performance of the day. Dukovich, I cannot look at her without crying right now. I'm so proud of her. She's literally the heart and soul of this entire team. She has a tattoo that says to "trust the process" since the V8 boat is named The Process. Today she raced within the process and it worked for her. I thank her for believing in this throughout. Stonehill is an incredible racer. This is just the start of her elite racing career.”

Duke's V4 also claimed second, finishing in 7:20.133 to come in behind Virginia (7:13.779) and ahead of Syracuse (7:20.740).

The Blue Devils finished the day with the 3V8 winning the petite final against North Carolina, 6:58.091 to 7:08.061.

"We were really bummed that we were not invited to the Clemson Invite this year," Cooke Carcagno added. "We hit the road hard and learned a lot after going up against all those challenging teams. Not being able to taper for anything was really hard, but it gave us the speed we saw today."

Duke now awaits its NCAA Championship fate. The NCAA Championship Selection Show will be streamed on NCAA.com Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET. A bid for the Blue Devils would be the first in program history.

The Results

First Varsity Eight Petite Final
1. Miami, 6:41.569; 2. Boston College, 6:52.142; 3. North Carolina, 6:56.891.

First Varsity Eight Grand Final
1. Virginia, 6:14.989; 2. Duke, 6:20.444; 3. Syracuse, 6:20.495; 4. Notre Dame, 6:23.727; 5. Louisville, 6:29.089; 6. Clemson, 6:34.456

Second Varsity Eight Petite Final
1. Boston College, 6:48.549; 2. Miami, 6:49.567; 3. North Carolina, 6:52.890.

Second Varsity Eight Grand Final
1. Virginia, 6:25.411; 2. Duke, 6:32.322; 3. Notre Dame, 6:32.326; 4. Syracuse, 6:37.501; 5. Louisville, 6:38.103; 6. Clemson, 6:51.296.

First Varsity Four, Petite Final
1. Boston College, 7:35.298; 2. North Carolina, 7:37.649; 3. Miami, 8:00.314.

First Varsity Four, Grand Final
1. Virginia, 7:13.779; 2. Duke, 7:20.113; 3. Syracuse, 7:20.740; 4. Notre Dame, 7:21.182; 5. Louisville, 7:30.765; 6. Clemson, 7:37.175.

Second Varsity Four, Petite Final
1. North Carolina, 7:52.65; 2. Miami, 7:57.551.

Second Varsity Four, Grand Final
1. Virginia, 7:16.407; 2. Syracuse, 7:24.194; 3. Louisville, 7:26.668; 4. Clemson, 7:27.292; 5. Notre Dame, 7:28.048; 6. Boston College, 7:43.463.

Third Varsity Eight, Petite Final
1. Duke, 6:58.091; 2. North Carolina, 7:08.061.

Third Varsity Eight, Grand Final
1. Virginia, 6:31.296; 2. Louisville, 6:35.741; 3. Syracuse. 6:42.092; 4. Notre Dame, 6:43.143; 5. Clemson, 6:50.841; 6. Boston College, 6:56.890.

ACC Championship Order of Finish
1.     Virginia, 99
2.     Duke, 75
Syracuse, 75
4.     Notre Dame, 68
5.     Louisville, 60
6.     Clemson, 47
7.     Boston College, 31
8.     Miami, 22
9.     North Carolina, 16

2016 ACC Rowing Crew of the Year
Coxswain: Colette Lucas-Conwell (Jr. Palo Alto, Calif.)
Stroke: Tessa Dikkers (Sr., Pelham, N.Y.)
7-Seat: Georgia Ratcliff (Jr., Falls Church, Va.)
6-Seat: Eliza Spilsbury (So., Centreville, Mass.)
5-Seat: Heidi Long (Fr., Buckinghamshire, England)
4-Seat: Erin Briggs (Jr., Orono, Minn.)
3-Seat: Jennifer Reid (Sr., Stafford, Va.)
2-Seat: Alice Darry (So., West Melton, New Zealand)
Bow: Sam Casto (Sr., Dallas, Pa.).

2016 ACC Rowing Freshman of the Year—Heidi Long, Virginia (Buckinghamshire, England)

2016 ACC Rowing Coach of the Year—Megan Cooke Carcagno, Duke

2016 All-ACC Rowing Team

First Team
Coxswain—Colette Lucas-Conwell, Virginia
Jennifer Reid, Virginia
Tessa Dikkers, Virginia
Sam Casto, Virginia
Alex Stonehill, Duke
Katie Dukovich, Duke
Deidre Fitzpatrick, Syracuse
Joanna Mulvey, Notre Dame
Kristie Harrison, Louisville

Second Team
Coxswain—Simone Pitre, Duke
Mackenzi Sherman, Virginia
Kari Tomeny, Syracuse
Hilary Shinnick, Notre Dame
Katie Nord, Louisville
Paula Wesselman, Clemson
Catherine Goldberg, Boston College
Chelsea Gustafson, North Carolina
Ally White, Miami

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