April 18, 2003

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Duke men's and women's outdoor track and field teams finished Day One, Friday April 18, of the 2003 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships in seventh (20 points) and ninth (10 points) place, respectively, in Raleigh, N.C. on the North Carolina State University campus. The Blue Devils are looking to move up in the team standings with the women qualifying for the finals in every event except one and the men qualifying three athletes in the 800 and 1500 meter runs. Highlighting the Blue Devils were junior Brent Warner and sophomore Michael Hatch who were named All-ACC, and senior Janay McKie and freshmen Allison Nesbitt and Elizabeth Wort who set new school records.

Warner jumped to a second place and career best 16-5 in the men's pole vault which is third all-time in the Duke records, while teammate Jeff Buttaccio also jumped to a career best 16-1 in the pole vault and owns the fifth best jump in school history. Both men qualified for the NCAA Regionals. Running the 10,000 meter run for the first time this season, Hatch finished third in 30:06.15.

Tomorrow's 800 and 1,500 meter run finals will see a total of 12 Blue Devils. Duke will have three men and three women in both events.

Ian Cronin had the top time in the men's 1500 meter run prelims (3:51.90) to qualify for the finals tomorrow. Nick Schneider was fourth (3:53.07) and Casey Reardon eighth (3:53.35) in the event to also qualify for the finals.

In the men's 800 meter run, Duke had three more qualify for the finals with Jon Amt's fourth fastest time (1:51.72), Tom Gianturco's seventh best time (1:52.10) and Donny Fowler rounding out the qualifiers with a time of 1:52.93.

On the women's side, for the first time in school history Duke has qualified for the finals in every event except the 100 meter dash. McKie led the way with the ninth fastest time at the meet with her school record-setting time of 24.46 in the 200 meter dash. McKie qualified for the finals in the event as well as the 400 meter dash where she had the fourth best time of 55.08. Nesbitt and Wort also set new school records in the 100 meter hurdles (14.11) and 3,000 meter steeplechase (11:02.03), respectively.

In the finals of the 10,000 meter run, Heidi Hullinger placed seventh in 35:34.79, which is the third fastest time in school history and Phebe Ko followed right behind Hullinger for eighth place (35:52.96), which improved her career best time and now owns the fourth best time in the Duke records.

In the field events, Laura Chen was seventh in the women's pole vault with a 12-0 jump and Ginny Stone was seventh in the women's hammer throw with a throw of 158-3. Eric Dooley scored one point for the Blue Devils with his eighth place finish and career best javelin throw of 161-7.

Other women qualifying for tomorrow's ACC Championships finals are Kristen Doody and Lauren Matic in the 800 meter run. Doody had the third fastest time (2:11.97) and Matic was eighth (2:11.29). Meaghan Leon and Shannon Rowbury moved on to the 1,500 meter run finals and both women qualified for the NCAA Regionals with times of 4:29.82 and 4:30.78, respectively. Sally Meyerhoff also qualified for the finals in the event with a time of 4:36.17 and Jenna Turner was sixth in the 400 meter hurdles (1:02.10) to qualify for the finals.

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