Blue Devil Women Win First ACC Championship

Saturday, May 15

Raleigh, N.C.

Duke University

Day Three at ACC Outdoor Championships

Photo by: Jaylynn Nash

Blue Devil Women Win First ACC Championship

5/15/2021 11:56:00 PM | Track & Field

Results (PDF)Photo Gallery

RALEIGH, N.C. – In a historic Saturday, Duke track & field triumphed as the women's team won the program's first ACC Outdoor Championship at the Paul Derr Track Facility on the campus of NC State.

The Blue Devil women shared the title with Florida State, matching each other with 110 points. The men also finished in a tie for eighth with NC State at 40 points.

In a tightly contested women's meet from the start, Duke and Florida State came down to the final event with the Blue Devils trailing the Seminoles by seven points at 107-100. With the championship on the line, Duke needed to win 4x400m relay and for Florida State to finish sixth or worse to secure at least a share of team title. For the experienced quartet of Iman Sule, Elena Brown-Soler, Jenna Crean and Brittany Aveni, the spotlight was no problem. Turning in a historic performance, the quartet ran a mark of 3:30.47, which earned them a gold medal. The mark crushed the school record by 1.74 seconds and gave the team exactly what they needed, as Florida State checked in at sixth place, delivering the Blue Devils the first ACC Outdoor Championship in program history.

In the first event of the day, the Blue Devils earned 14 critical points, as sophomore Elasia Campbell won the women's high jump. Campbell became the first Blue Devil woman to win an ACC Championship in the high jump since Debra Vento in 2006, notching an outdoor personal best of 1.78m (5-10 feet). The Marietta, Ga., native set the fourth best mark in program history to become a three-time All-ACC First Team recipient, while teammate Brianna Smith took sixth place with a mark of 1.70m (5-7 feet) to take All-ACC Second team honors for the first time.

The women's team added more points and more medals in the 100m hurdles, as graduate student Cha'Mia Rothwell led the way with a bronze medal finish of 13.10 seconds. Rothwell earns All-ACC First Team honors and becomes the Blue Devils first All-ACC honoree in program history. Senior Erin Marsh also added more All-ACC honors, setting a personal best time of 13.25 seconds to take fifth place and a spot on the second team. The Buford, Ga., native improved her own second fastest mark in program history and the duo combined to add 10 more team points.

In one of the single most dominant performances of the ACC Outdoor Championships, the Duke women's 400m delivered a dazzling finish. Five of the eight runners in the event were Blue Devils who qualified for the final on Friday. The Blue Devils were able to take first, second, fourth and fifth places, securing 28 points. Graduate student Brittany Aveni won the event, shattering her own school record by 0.63 seconds, with a run of 51.60 seconds. That time checks in as the fifth fastest in the NCAA East Region and 12th fastest in the nation, entering competition on Sunday, as Aveni becomes an ACC Champion for the first time.

Right behind her was graduate student Iman Sule, who crushed her own personal best with a run of 52.25 seconds to take the silver medal and All-ACC First Team honors. Sule came just 0.03 seconds from also breaking Aveni's record, setting the second fastest time in program history. Also earning All-ACC Second Team honors were graduate student Elena Brown-Soler, who took fourth place with a personal best run of 53.10 seconds, to set the fifth fastest mark in program history, and sophomore Jenna Crean, who finished fifth in a time of 53.97 — the first sub-54-second time in her career.

Senior Leigha Torino added All-ACC Second Team honors as well, taking sixth place with a time of 2:07.04 in the 800m, adding three more points to the Blue Devils growing total. Torino helped give the Blue Devils a three-point edge through 15 events.

After falling behind on a few events, the Blue Devils responded in one of their best – the 400m hurdles. Senior Lauren Hoffman turned in a historic time, blazing her way to a mark of 56.98 and crushing her own school record by 0.56 seconds to take the silver medal. Hoffman scored 10 points for the women's team, recording a top-10 time nationally and the fifth best time in the NCAA East Region entering competition on Sunday. Men's counterpart Connor Atkinson impressed as well, running a time of 51.14 seconds to take the bronze medal and All-ACC First Team honors. Atkinson's run unseated Chris Castor's 1980 run of 51.49 seconds for second on the all-time program list, recorded six team points and helped him become an ACC medalist for the first time.

Adding to an impressive day, Aveni took home her second medal with a third-place finish in the 200m. The Geneva, Ohio native ran a time of 23.12 seconds and scored six points for the Blue Devils to shave the deficit on Florida State to 10 points. Needing a higher finish than Florida State in the 5000m to stay alive for the title, senior Michaela Reinhart delivered a clutch performance, taking fifth, while her Seminoles opponent took eighth to shave the deficit to 107-100 with one event remaining. Reinhart took home All-ACC Second Team honors with a blazing time of 15:55.38 for the second fastest time in program history and only the third to break 16 minutes.

Several Blue Devils now await their fates on qualification for the NCAA East Regional, hosted in Jacksonville, Fla., from May 27-29. The NCAA Outdoor Championships will take place from June 8-11 in Eugene, Ore.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils track & field, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeTFXC."

ACC Medalists
Brittany Aveni – Gold Medal (400m) – ACC CHAMPION
Brittany Aveni – Gold Medal (4x400m) – ACC CHAMPION
Elena Brown-Soler – Gold Medal (4x400m) – ACC CHAMPION
Elasia Campbell – Gold Medal (High Jump) – ACC CHAMPION
Jenna Crean – Gold Medal (4x400m) – ACC CHAMPION
Evan Lee – Gold Medal (Decathlon) – ACC CHAMPION
Iman Sule – Gold Medal (4x400m) – ACC CHAMPION
Lauren Hoffman – Silver Medal (400m Hurdles)
Erin Marsh – Silver Medal (Heptathlon)
Alex Miley – Silver Medal (3000m Steeplechase)
Iman Sule – Silver Medal (400m)
Julia Valenti – Silver Medal (Pole Vault)
Connor Atkinson – Bronze Medal (400m Hurdles)
Cha'Mia Rothwell – Bronze Medal (100m Hurdles)

All-ACC Honors
Connor Atkinson – All-ACC First Team (400m Hurdles)
Brittany Aveni – All-ACC First Team (400m)
Brittany Aveni – All-ACC First Team (4x400m)
Elasia Campbell – All-ACC First Team (High Jump)
Jenna Crean – All-ACC First Team (4x400m)
Lauren Hoffman – All-ACC First Team (400m Hurdles)
Elena Brown-Soler – All-ACC First Team (4x400m)
Evan Lee – All-ACC First Team (Decathlon)
Erin Marsh – All-ACC First Team (Heptathlon)
Alex Miley – All-ACC First Team (3000m Steeplechase)
Cha'Mia Rothwell – All-ACC First Team (100m Hurdles)
Iman Sule – All-ACC First Team (400m)
Julia Valenti – All-ACC First Team (Pole Vault)
Elena Brown-Soler – All-ACC Second Team (400m)
Jenna Crean – All-ACC Second Team (400m)
Zoe Hughes – All-ACC Second Team (Heptathlon)
Kiegan Lenihan – All-ACC Second Team (Javelin)
Harry Lord – All-ACC Second Team (Decathlon)
Erin Marsh – All-ACC Second Team (100m Hurdles)
Ezra Mellinger – All-ACC Second Team (Long Jump)
Michaela Reinhart – All-ACC Second Team (5000m)
Ashleigh Rodriguez – All-ACC Second Team (Javelin)
Brianna Smith – All-ACC Second Team (High Jump)
Leigha Torino – All-ACC Second Team (800m)

#GoDuke