Duke Men Beat Rival North Carolina With 86 Points, Virginia Women Tally 93 Points In Win Over Louisville; Mykolas Alekna, Jayden Ulrich, Five Others Breaks Meet Records

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

Makenzie Steele photos

Eight points combined was the deciding factor in the Duke men and Virginia women taking home Atlantic Coast Conference team titles on Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Duke men outlasted bitter-rival North Carolina by a score of 86-82 to win the program's first conference title, and the Virginia women won its first outright title since 1987, beating Louisville 93-89. 

With only two event wins over the three-day meet, the Blue Devils made up most of their points from eight podium finishes, including two from Joseph Taylor in the men's 200 and 400 finals. Christian Toro (hammer) and Simen Guttormsen (pole vault) won the only two events during days one and two.

Virginia won four events to propel them past Louisville, including three on the last day by Margot Appleton, Celia Rifaterra and Christiana Ellina.

Appleton won her third consecutive women's 1,500 title in 4 minutes, 11.28 seconds to hold off Clemson's Silivia Jelego in a close finish.

Rifaterra needed a personal best clearance of 1.86 meters (6-1.25) to beat her own teammate Carly Tarentino and Pittsburgh's Eva Baldursdottir by six centimeters in the women's high jump. 

Ellina threw a sixth-round mark of 52.44m (172-0) to complete a late comeback in the women's javelin, beating Miami's Deisiane Teixeria.  

Bowerman watch list athletes Mykolas Alekna and Jayden Ulrich both broke meet and Wake Forest facility records in their respective discus competitions to lead a total of seven meet records on day three.

Alekna of California, the world record holder in the men's discus, threw 69.86m (229-2) to capture his first ACC title, winning by over nine meters.

Ulrich, already the meet record holder in the women's discus, topped her own mark of 61.31m (201-1) from last year's final by over a meter in 62.89 (206-4) to repeat as champion.

Florida State's Micahi Danzy and North Carolina's Parker Wolfe not only broke meet records in their finals, but established new ACC all-time bests, too.

Danzy ran an NCAA-leading time of 44.38 to win the men's 400, beating Duke's Taylor by a margin of 44.38 to 44.98. Virginia Tech's Judson Lincoln IV held both the ACC all-time best (44.55) and meet record (44.60).

The Seminoles added wins in 4x100 relays from their men's (39.05) and women's (43.15) teams, Shenese Walker in the women's 100 (10.99w) and 200 (22.72w), Andre Korbmacher in the 110 hurdles (13.47), Neo Mosebi in the men's 100 (10.08) and Kyvon Tathan in men's triple (16.09m/52-9.5)

Wolfe won the 5,000 in a personal best 13:13.49, lowering his own meet record by six seconds, to go with his win in the 10,000, completing the double for the second consecutive season. Gary Martin owned the ACC all-time best for a season in 13:16.82.

Wolfe's teammate, Ethan Stand, finished second, but earlier won his third conference title in the men's 1,500 in 3:44.78. Strand is another athlete on the men's Bowerman watch list.

Clemson's Gladys Chepngetich and Virginia Tech's Christian Jackson added record-breaking performances in the women's and men's 800.

Chepngetich was the only woman to go under two minutes in the final, running 1:59.94, defeating NCAA indoor champion Makayla Paige of North Carolina in 2:00.21. Stanford's Roisin Willis ran a season's best 2:00.43. All three women exceeded Laurie Barton's meet record of 2:00.70.

Clemson got three more wins from Oneka Wilson in the women's 100 hurdles (13.07), Jalen Johnson in the men's 200 (20.36) and Shantae Foreman in the women's triple jump (13.52m (44-4.25)

Jackson became the first male collegiate athlete in 2025 to run under 1:45, winning the final in 1:44.83 over Clemson's Brian Kweyei, who was right there in second in 1:45.09. Both were under Kameron Jones' 2021 meet record of 1:45.17.

The Hokies also saw Caitlyn Bobb win the women's 400 in a personal best 51.11.

NC State's Grace Hartman took 11 seconds off the women's 5,000 meet record, previously held by Olivia Markezich in 15:23.14, in a winning effort of 15:12.03 to cap off the seven meet records set on the final day.

Miami's Sanaa Hebron and Aaron Kim put together career-best efforts to win conference titles for the Hurricanes. Hebron ran a personal best 55.21 to win the women's 400 hurdles; Kim cleared 2.18m (7-1.75) in the men's high jump for first.

Pittsburgh's Devin Nugent won the men's 400 hurdles in a personal best 49.52, then anchored the Panthers to win the 4x400 relay in 3:03.96.

Duke's women's 4x400 relay fell a few tenths short of Miami's meet record of 3:28.29, running 3:28.81 for the win.