BLACKSBURG, Va. — The Irish kicked of the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships on top Thursday evening as both distance medley relays finish in the top-three on the first day of competition.
Through the first few events, the Irish men lead the competition with 10 points while the women are sixth with six.
The men, coming off a nation-leading time last time out, won the DMR with a final time of 9:38.85. Vincent Zona led the squad off with a 1,200m stretch in 3:01.02 as he handed the baton off to Edward Cheatham. He finished the 400m dash in 47.54, meeting Samuel Voelz for the 800m race. Voelz took strides around the track for a split of 1:50.31 with Yared Nuguse taking over for the final stretch. A tight race into the mile, his time of 3:59.99 blew the competition away as the team took the top spot on the podium.
The women opened the evening taking bronze in their DMR event with, crossing the line in 11:08.02. Mikayla Schneider ran the first leg of the race, completing the 1,200m portion in 4:23.20. Grace Cronin followed up with a 55.33 second split in the 400m to put the team solidly in third halfway through the event. Kelly Hart kicked it into high gear, narrowing the gap between second and third with her 2:07.45 finish in the 800m before handing the baton off to Rachel DaDamio for the final leg. It was a close finish at the end as the Irish were slightly edged at the line for third as DaDamio posted a 4:43.09 finish in the mile stretch.
The Irish are back in action tomorrow for the second day of the ACC Championships. The first event gets underway at noon in the field. Racing begins at 1 p.m.
The event will be live streamed beginning tomorrow at 4 p.m. with this link.
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