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Researchers teach robot to play badminton using Nvidia RTX machine learning

Why it matters: Ever since Boston Dynamics first showcased its famous legged robots in 2013, numerous organizations have introduced machines that autonomously perform various professional and recreational activities. The latest research utilizes badminton to develop a robot’s agility and coordination, which could help advance training methods and maneuverability. Scientists at ETH Zürich recently published a […]

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Researchers teach robot to play badminton using Nvidia RTX machine learning

Why it matters: Ever since Boston Dynamics first showcased its famous legged robots in 2013, numerous organizations have introduced machines that autonomously perform various professional and recreational activities. The latest research utilizes badminton to develop a robot’s agility and coordination, which could help advance training methods and maneuverability.

Scientists at ETH Zürich recently published a study and video (below) explaining how they trained a quadrupedal robot to play badminton. The research could demonstrate the usefulness of a full-body training model that doesn’t break activities into individual steps, potentially widening the range of learnable tasks.

A standard ANYmal-D robot was equipped with a DynaArm and taught using a standard reinforcement learning model with minimal software or hardware specialization. Furthermore, the machine learned to track the shuttlecock using only its onboard stereo camera.

The robot learned to navigate the court using Nvidia’s Isaac Gym virtual simulator, which took about 7,500 iterations over almost five hours using an RTX 2080 Ti graphics card. Additionally, a noise prediction model helped it track the shuttlecock when it passed out of the camera’s limited field of view.

Eventually, it learned to deploy various complex movements to hit the shuttlecock without the researchers needing to teach them individually, such as starting motions, backswings, hits, running, and recovery. It even adjusted its movements based on the shuttlecock’s perceived speed, galloping across the court to hit it in time.

The experiment demonstrates the adaptability of the ANYmal-D, which ANYbotics designed to perform inspections, emergency response, and other tasks in various industrial environments. The company’s website shows the robot navigating indoor facilities, gravel, staircases, caves, snow, mud, and flooding while operating around the clock. An upcoming model, the ANYmal-X, is certified for more hazardous environments to help conduct inspections involving oil, gas, and chemicals.

Badminton is only the latest leisure activity used to demonstrate a legged robot’s adaptability. Boston Dynamics famously showed its original Atlas model dancing and performing gymnastics, and the company’s quadrupedal Spot unit demonstrated how robots might one day assist in stage productions.

Meanwhile, Google DeepMind trained a robot arm to play table tennis, Engineered Arts showcased a humanoid robot artist, and the NBA recently deployed robots to assist practicing athletes. Chinese companies also recently deployed robots to compete in a half-marathon and a kickboxing tournament with mixed results.

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WSU’s Anne McCoy details House settlement’s impact at WSU, plus other nuggets

PULLMAN – As the athletics ecosystem department at Washington State changes, most notably cutting field events from its track and field program three weeks ago, more clarity is also beginning to surface about the impact of the House v. NCAA settlement at WSU. In a Thursday news conference on Zoom, most of which she spent […]

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PULLMAN – As the athletics ecosystem department at Washington State changes, most notably cutting field events from its track and field program three weeks ago, more clarity is also beginning to surface about the impact of the House v. NCAA settlement at WSU.

In a Thursday news conference on Zoom, most of which she spent discussing the track and field cuts, WSU Athletics Director Anne McCoy confirmed that in the wake of House settlement, which paves the way for universities to begin directly paying athletes and went into effect on Tuesday, the Cougars are allotting $4.5 million this year for the football program.

That includes scholarships, stipends and NIL, she said. McCoy did not provide a number for WSU’s basketball programs, saying she didn’t know it off hand, but offered to let media know later on.

That means that while WSU’s football program may be getting what McCoy called a $4.5 million “benefits pool,” only some of that will be dedicated to institutional NIL payments – and she declined to detail those numbers, citing competitive advantage reasons. It’s unclear how the figure stacks up nationally, but it figures to be competitive in the new Pac-12.

Other nuggets from McCoy’s roughly 30-minute news conference are as follows:

• WSU’s apparel contract with Nike, worth about $2.3M annually, expired last week. Asked whether it stands to get renewed, McCoy said, “Stay tuned on that. I think there will be official news shortly.”

• On a similar Zoom news conference in April, McCoy said the school was about two to three weeks away from announcing new lodging availabilities in Pullman, potentially alleviating the issue of pricey hotels for football game weekends. But on Thursday, McCoy said she still wasn’t ready to provide more details, saying, “I think we’re close to rolling out a lot of that and a lot of other amenity updates, but not quite there yet.”

• As LSU prepares to sell advertisement patches on its football uniforms this fall, McCoy said WSU had not explored such a path, but she didn’t rule it out entirely: “To say we would or we wouldn’t do that, I don’t know, but we have to consider it,” she said. “I think we have to consider everything or we do ourselves a disservice.”

• Only one game on WSU’s 2025 football schedule, a Nov. 22 road contest against James Madison, doesn’t have a kickoff time. Because the game is at JMU, the ball is in the court of the Dukes and the Sun Belt Conference. McCoy said she has no update on a start time for that game.

• Over the weekend, the rebuilt Pac-12 officially welcomed Texas State as its crucial eighth all-sports members, meeting NCAA requirements for FBS conferences. As the conference looks to partner with more TV networks (on top of its foundational agreement with CBS), it’s possible commissioner Teresa Gould could look to add more schools than the minimum of eight all-sports members.

“I think the Pac-12 has done a good job of really looking at a phased approach on that,” McCoy said, referencing media rights packages and conference additions. “I think that they continue to evaluate, as we will collectively as a conference, what any future membership potential looks like, but also really finalizing the remaining pieces and getting those announced for the media partnership.”





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Christian HS grad drafted, then dealt to Clippers; locals in WNBA shine

Despite averaging 19.6 points per game with a great shooting touch as a senior at Cal Poly, Kobe Sanders was no closer to playing in the NBA than Manny Machado. So Sanders, the former Christian High School standout, decided to play his final college season at Nevada. And pro teams took notice. Sanders averaged 15.8 […]

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Despite averaging 19.6 points per game with a great shooting touch as a senior at Cal Poly, Kobe Sanders was no closer to playing in the NBA than Manny Machado.

So Sanders, the former Christian High School standout, decided to play his final college season at Nevada. And pro teams took notice.

Sanders averaged 15.8 points and 4.5 assists for the Wolf Pack and was selected by the New York Knicks in the recent NBA Draft, the 50th pick overall. He was immediately traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in a draft-night deal.

At 6-foot-9 and 210 pounds, Sanders is a long, lean wing whose size, mobility and vision make him a candidate to contribute in the NBA.

Sanders, whose brother Gage played at Steele Canyon, was an All-Eastern League player at Christian as a senior, averaging 16.7 points and 5.0 rebounds a game. He averaged 12.0 points and 3.8 rebounds as a junior for the Patriots after spending his first two high school seasons at Steele Canyon. He finished his high school career with more than 1,000 points.

Sanders spent his first four college seasons at Cal Poly, eclipsing the 1,000-point mark in the final game of his senior season in a game against UC San Diego.But he was only an honorable mention All-Big West pick after averaging nearly 20 points a game as a senior.

At Nevada, he rarely left the court, averaging 31.5 minutes a game. He scored 20 or more points nine times, and put up 30 against both Boise State and UNLV. He was named a third-team All-Mountain West player.

He’ll start his pro career later this month at the NBA Summer League.

Guard Kelsey Plum #10 of the Los Angeles Sparks drives to the basket past forward Angel Reese #5 of the Chicago Sky in the second half of a WNBA basketball game at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 29, 2025. (Libby Cline Birmingham, Contributing Photographer)
Guard Kelsey Plum #10 of the Los Angeles Sparks drives to the basket past forward Angel Reese #5 of the Chicago Sky in the second half of a WNBA basketball game at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 29, 2025. (Libby Cline Birmingham, Contributing Photographer)

WNBA

Three San Diegans are playing in the WNBA this season:

• Kelsey Plum (La Jolla Country Day/Washington) is playing for the Los Angeles Sparks, where she is averaging 20.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. Drafted by No. 1 overall by San Antonio after a spectacular college career, she moved with the team to Las Vegas, winning a pair of WNBA championships. A three-time All-Star, MVP of the 2022 All-Star Game, she was traded to the Sparks in the winter.

• DiJonai Carrington (Horizon Christian/Baylor) is playing for the Dallas Wings, where she is dealing with a rib injury. Carrington has appeared in 14 games this season, averaging 11.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. She played for years for the Connecticut Sun and was traded to Dallas after averaging 12.7 points and being named to the league’s All-Defensive Team. She played four years collegiately at Stanford before finishing at Baylor.

• Te-Hina Paopao (La Jolla Country Day/South Carolina) was taken 18th overall by the Atlanta Dream in this year’s NBA Draft. Through her first 17 games as a professional, Paopao is averaging 5.9 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists. She had a career-high 16 points against Chicago, hitting five 3-pointers.

Water polo

Kendall Wyer (Bishop’s) finished her freshman season at Princeton with 15 goals, 22 assists and five steals. An attacker, she had hat tricks against Wagner and Bucknell and two goals vs. USC. She was a two-time CWPA Rookie of the Week. The Tigers finished 21-7 and had 10 wins over ranked teams before losing in overtime to Harvard in the CWPA championship game.

Softball

Shortstop Breanna Lutz (Ramona/Palomar College) was named State Athlete of the Year by the California College Sports Information Association. A left-handed hitter, she batted .560 to lead the state and had 10 home runs, 19 doubles, six triples, 59 RBIs and scored 72 runs for the Comets, who finished the season 44-5.

Quarterback Julian Sayin calls for a snap during the first quarter of the Ohio State Spring Game at Ohio Stadium on April 12, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images)
Quarterback Julian Sayin calls for a snap during the first quarter of the Ohio State Spring Game at Ohio Stadium on April 12, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images)

Football

Julian Sayin (Carlsbad) is expected to open the 2025 season as Ohio State’s starting quarterback. He was ranked as the No. 5 QB in the 18-team Big Ten by USA Today behind Penn State’s Drew Allar, Illinois’ Luke Altmyer. Nebraska’s Dylan Railola and Dante Moore of Oregon.

Track & field

Ethan Heldman (La Jolla Country Day), a freshman pole vaulter at NCAA Division III Bowdoin College, cleared a personal best 14-7 1/4 at the State of Maine Championships.

• Ethan Estrada (La Jolla Country Day), a senior at Bowdoin, cleared a personal best 13-5 1/4 at the conference championships.

Scholars

Taylor Wessel (La Jolla Country Day), a senior swimmer at Idaho, was named Academic All-WAC.

• Dani Hackman (La Jolla Country Day), a junior swimmer at  Washington and Lee in Virginia, was named a Scholar-Athlete for the third straight year.

In the pros

Trey Kell (St. Augustine/San Diego State) has signed to play for the Illawarra Hawks in Australia’s NBL. A guard, he averaged 20.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists last season for the Adelaide 36ers.

• In baseball, Grant Larson (High Tech-San Diego/Central Oklahoma) and Shane Telfer (Cathedral Catholic/Pepperdine) are playing for the Ottawa Titans in the independent Frontier League. Luke McCullough (Coronado/Villanova) is pitching for the Washington Wild Things in the Frontier League. Aidan Risse (La Jolla Country Day/USF) is pitching for the New York Boulders in the Frontier League.

John Maffei’s Alumni Report appears during the college season. Readers are encouraged to send items on local athletes to john.maffei@sduniontribune.com.

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Upstate middle school student dies from meningitis, family says

NATE, THANK YOU. IN PICKENS COUNTY, WE’RE LEARNING SOME NEW DETAILS ABOUT THE TRAGIC PASSING OF A SEVENTH GRADER. ACCORDING TO HER FAMILY’S GOFUNDME PAGE 12, YEAR-OLD ANSLEY PACE CHAPPELLE RECENTLY DIED FROM GROUP B BACTERIAL MENINGITIS. SHE WAS A VOLLEYBALL PLAYER AT DACUSVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL. HER FAMILY CREATED THE GOFUNDME TO KEEP HER SPIRIT […]

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NATE, THANK YOU. IN PICKENS COUNTY, WE’RE LEARNING SOME NEW DETAILS ABOUT THE TRAGIC PASSING OF A SEVENTH GRADER. ACCORDING TO HER FAMILY’S GOFUNDME PAGE 12, YEAR-OLD ANSLEY PACE CHAPPELLE RECENTLY DIED FROM GROUP B BACTERIAL MENINGITIS. SHE WAS A VOLLEYBALL PLAYER AT DACUSVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL. HER FAMILY CREATED THE GOFUNDME TO KEEP HER SPIRIT ALIVE THROUGH A MEMORIAL VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT, AND ALSO SCHOLARSHIPS CREATED IN HER MEMORY. SO FAR, THEY HAVE RAISED OVER $30,000. THIS AFTERNOON, PICKENS COUNTY SCHOOLS WILL HAV

Upstate middle school student dies from meningitis, family says

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Updated: 8:02 PM EDT Jul 3, 2025

Editorial Standards

A Pickens County seventh-grade student has died from group B bacterial meningitis.The family of Ansley “Payce” Chappell made the announcement on a GoFundMe page.She was a volleyball player at Dacusville Middle School.The School District of Pickens County released a statement saying:The School District of Pickens County is deeply saddened by the passing of Ansley “Payce” Chappell, a rising 7th grade student at Dacusville Middle School.Payce was known for her bright spirit, strong character, and the joy she brought to those around her. She was deeply involved in her school community, and her presence touched many—students, teachers, and families alike.Our hearts are with Payce’s family, friends, and the school communities of Dacusville and Pickens. She was a well-loved student known for her bright spirit and strong character. Payce’s mother is an employee at Pickens High School, and her sister attends PHS, making this loss felt across multiple schools and by many of our staff.We ask the community to join us in lifting up the Chappell family and all who loved Payce during this incredibly difficult time.

A Pickens County seventh-grade student has died from group B bacterial meningitis.

The family of Ansley “Payce” Chappell made the announcement on a GoFundMe page.

She was a volleyball player at Dacusville Middle School.

The School District of Pickens County released a statement saying:

The School District of Pickens County is deeply saddened by the passing of Ansley “Payce” Chappell, a rising 7th grade student at Dacusville Middle School.

Payce was known for her bright spirit, strong character, and the joy she brought to those around her. She was deeply involved in her school community, and her presence touched many—students, teachers, and families alike.

Our hearts are with Payce’s family, friends, and the school communities of Dacusville and Pickens. She was a well-loved student known for her bright spirit and strong character. Payce’s mother is an employee at Pickens High School, and her sister attends PHS, making this loss felt across multiple schools and by many of our staff.

We ask the community to join us in lifting up the Chappell family and all who loved Payce during this incredibly difficult time.



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‘Limitless potential’ in Gisborne water polo rookies, says professional player

It was run by Sari and Eve Weston, professional water polo players in Hungary, with the assistance of locals Diego and Sammy Castaño. Half of the participants have attended the club’s regular Sunday flippa ball sessions, while the others were taking their first plunge into the sport. Sari was impressed by what he saw. AdvertisementAdvertise […]

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Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country Lists Five to CSC Academic All-District Team

College Sports Communicators Academic All-District – WPI Women’s Track & Field and Cross Country Story Links WORCESTER — WPI Women’s Track & Field and Cross Country placed five standout Engineers on the 2025 NCAA Division III Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team, as announced recently. Bethany Brown (Allentown, PA), Bailey […]

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College Sports Communicators Academic All-District – WPI Women’s Track & Field and Cross Country


WORCESTER — WPI Women’s Track & Field and Cross Country placed five standout Engineers on the 2025 NCAA Division III Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team, as announced recently.

Bethany Brown (Allentown, PA), Bailey Allmon (Woodbine, MD), Olivia Spielberger (Hingham, MA), Sophia Reynolds (Andover, NH) and Piper O’Connell (North Attleboro, MA) all claimed their first academic honors from the CSC following the 2024-25 seasons. 

Brown, a junior specializing in the 400-meter hurdles, clocked 1:05.83 this spring to place eighth in the East Region and 118th nationally. Brown also served as a vital contributor to the women’s cross country program. The Biomedical Engineering major balances elite performance with a stellar 3.97 GPA.

Allmon, a junior multi-event competitor, posted a top-20 East Region mark in the 400-meter hurdles (16th) with a time of 1:07.70. Additionally, the junior hurdler double dips as a forward for the women’s soccer program that advanced to the 2024 NEWMAC Women’s Soccer Championship tilt. In the classroom, Allmon sports a perfect 4.00 GPA in Biomedical Engineering while excelling on the track and the pitch. 

Spielberger was a consistent contributor in the field and on the track this season. The Biology and Biotechnology major notched a top-10 regional ranking in the indoor triple jump (10.89 meters, 10th East Region) and added a strong 60-meter hurdles effort (22nd East Region). Additionally, the senior jumper claimed a bronze medal finish in the triple jump with an 11.47 meter mark at the NEWMAC Championship meet. Off the track, Spielberger maintains a 3.74 GPA.

Reynolds, a junior distance runner, shone across multiple events, ranking 11th in the East Region in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:38.64) and 15th in the 10,000 meters (38:23.15) and also cracked the top-50 in the indoor 3,000 and 5,000 meters. The Andover native collected a pair of individual titles, first during indoor season at the Wheaton Invite in the 3,000-meter run and then at the Springfield College Classic during the outdoor stint in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Reynolds holds a perfect 4.00 GPA in Biomedical Engineering.

O’Connell, a senior javelin thrower, reached 35.85 meters for third overall at 2025 NEWMAC Track & Field championships this spring in addition to placing 12th at the New England Division 3 Championships. The Computer Science major wraps up her Crimson and Gray career with a 3.66 GPA.

The 2025 Academic All-District Women’s Track & Field teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the track, in the field, and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-Americaprogram separately honors women’s track & field student-athletes in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and the NAIA.

Academic All-District honorees are considered for advancement to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. Finalists will be voted on by CSC members, with First-, Second-, and Third-Team Academic All-America® honorees announced July 15, 2025 for women’s programs.

The Division II and III CSC Academic All-America programs are partially supported by the NCAA governance structures to assist CSC with the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2024–25 programs.

CSC Release

 



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Duke track and field 2024-25 season review

Overview With a men’s ACC team win, an individual national championship and a record 16 athletes sent to the NCAA Outdoor Championship, the 2025 outdoor season was one of Duke’s most successful campaigns to date.  It didn’t appear that way earlier during the indoor season. Early in March, the Blue Devils capped a smattering of […]

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Overview

With a men’s ACC team win, an individual national championship and a record 16 athletes sent to the NCAA Outdoor Championship, the 2025 outdoor season was one of Duke’s most successful campaigns to date. 

It didn’t appear that way earlier during the indoor season. Early in March, the Blue Devils capped a smattering of standout individual performances at minor meets with a disappointing team showing at ACCs, where the men finished seventh and the women finished 10th. While Simen Guttormsen took the NCAA pole vault crown and fellow graduate Christian Johnson nabbed second-team All-America honors a couple weeks later, they were the sole Blue Devils present at the indoor championships. And though junior mid-distance star Lauren Tolbert broke her own 800-meter school record an astonishing four times throughout the winter season, the Blue Devils were missing something — team track and field. 

As the outdoor season kicked off, the pieces began to fall into place. Head coach Shawn Wilbourn predicted it after the NCAA Indoor Championship. He told the Chronicle, “We’re more of an outdoor team,” and his athletes soon began to prove it. 

At local meets like Raleigh Relays and the program’s own Duke Invitational, the Blue Devils hammered in event wins and program all-time marks in events ranging from the hammer throw to the short hurdles. 

On the track, themes began to emerge in certain events like the women’s 4×400-meter relay. Building on its ACC Indoor Championship gold medal, the relay squad opened the season with a No. 2 NCAA time of 3:31.31 to win Raleigh Relays. From there, it brought home a coveted Penn Relays wheel after a decisive victory in 3:27.77— the second-fastest time in program history. At the ACC Outdoor Championship, the relay defended its title on the back of a blistering 50.17-second anchor leg by Tolbert. The Duke quartet rounded off its illustrious outdoor campaign with a fifth-place finish and ACC No. 2 all-time mark of 3:27.40 in the final of the NCAA Outdoor Championship.

For the Blue Devils as a whole, the undoubted highlight of the outdoor season was the ACC Outdoor Championship. Although the women fell short of a three-peat team win, it was a sort of homecoming for the Duke men, who won their first-ever ACC team title. Pure dominance on the field made it happen for the men: a pair of gold medals from Guttormsen in the pole vault and sophomore Christian Toro in the hammer throw, along with a 2-3-4 finish in the javelin, to name a few. 

After that historic ACC victory, the Blue Devils kept the match lit at the NCAA East Regional meet as they qualified a record 16 athletes — nine women and seven men — to the outdoor national championships in Eugene, Ore. And on the biggest stage, the Blue Devils delivered. After battling through four days of intense competition, they brought home 17 All-America honors, highlighted by fifth-place finishes across the board in the men’s 400-meter dash and pole vault, as well as the women’s 800-meter and 4×400-meter relay.

In the words of Wilbourn, it was “probably the best overall year that Duke track and field as a program has ever had.”

There’s still plenty of room for the Blue Devils to improve, especially in the distance events they haven’t traditionally scored in. They’ve got a lot of work to do if they want to be a competitive team on the national stage. But with a wildly successful season and burgeoning young talent like freshmen Joseph Taylor and Braelyn Baker, the Duke men and women are right on track. -Prithvi Kotapati

Best win: ACC Outdoor Championship

If there was one meet that hammered home the team aspect of track and field, it was the ACC Outdoor Championship.

The men’s close victory was the highlight of the season, with the team pulling through in relays against archrival North Carolina. The Tar Heels led the Blue Devils 82-80 going into the final event — the 4×400-meter relay. California, meanwhile, was nipping at both heels — almost literally — with 79.83 points on the board.

For a team which had struggled early on in relays, the men pulled through thanks to stamina and a deep roster that kept Duke competitive from the first day. A commanding early performance proved crucial to the win, with the Blue Devils racking up 30 points by the first day’s end. Duke’s lead-clinching events before the nail-biter relay went beyond gold medals, with the 2-3-4 finish in javelin throw — courtesy of graduate students Scott Campbell, Matthew Prebola and Joe DiDiario — and Max Forte’s bronze medal in long jump adding much-needed points. 

As Duke led in the 5,000-meter, coaches were faced with an unenviable choice: who should run the 4×400-meter relay after three punishing days of competition. With the first win for the men’s team in sight, they selected two freshmen and two graduate students, hoping their much-tested legs would push through one final, grueling, potentially career-defining race. The four runners — freshmen Taylor and Andres Langston and graduate students Callum Robinson and TJ Clayton — set a program record of 3:04.49. 

While the women missed out on a hoped-for three-peat, falling behind on the tournament’s last day, the team still notched several top-three finishes, finishing fifth overall. The Blue Devils ultimately defended their 4×400-meter relay title by a razor-thin 0.09 seconds. Individual performances kept the team going strong, particularly on the track, with Baker and graduate students Birgen Nelson and Aliya Garozzo earning a third-place finish each. -Samanyu Gangappa

MVPs: Lauren Tolbert and Joseph Taylor

Duke track and field’s 2024-2025 season represented arguably its most successful in program history, and it took a group effort to build the historic results. The 17 USTFCCCA All-America honors that the Blue Devils pulled in meant a full cast of athletes across the board played their roles in the team’s success this season.

A high point this season on the men’s side was the ACC Outdoor Championship, where the men’s team narrowly overtook North Carolina to secure its first conference championship in program history. In the field, a pair of conference golds from Guttormsen and Toro helped give the Blue Devils an edge. But it was freshman phenom Joseph Taylor who delivered all across the board in the competition. Medals in the 200-meter run, 400-meter run and 4×400-meter relay — with a school record to accompany each piece of hardware — stands as Taylor’s contribution to the historic victory. The Toledo, Ohio, native picked up a fourth school record as a part of the 4×100-meter relay, and it was Taylor and the 4×400-meter quartet’s performance which clinched the men’s ACC title.

The freshman went on to earn a fifth-place finish in the NCAA Outdoor Championship and earned a 13th-overall placement with his 4×400-meter relay to leave Eugene, Ore., with multiple USTFCCCA All-America honors.

On the women’s side, nine athletes qualifying for the outdoor championships signaled plenty of firepower from that half of Wilbourn’s squad. But when all was said and done, it was junior Lauren Tolbert whose performance stood above the rest on the biggest stage. 

In the 800m prelims, Tolbert — a familiar face on Duke’s catalog of program records — marked her personal best and a new school record with a coveted sub-two-minute finish. “That’s rare air elite territory,” Wilbourn said of her record. In the finals, the Belmont, N.C., native clocked out at fifth overall, improving on her eighth-overall finish at the same meet one season prior. A mere hour later, Tolbert took part in the historic 4×400-meter relay finish to take home her second USTFCCCA All-America first-team honor during her time in Eugene. -Colton Schwabe

Accolades

The men’s team’s first conference title in program history remains the story of the teams’ ACC Championship for the outdoor season. In that competition, the women’s dominant 4×400-meter relay — then composed of Garozzo, Julia Jackson, Megan McGinnis and Tolbert — took home the conference gold for a repeat of its indoor conference title. 

Toro and Guttormsen took home golds from their respective field events as Guttormsen’s victory represented a conference sweep for the indoor and outdoor championships to complement the Norwegian’s NCAA Indoor Championship first-place finish.

The Blue Devils left their conference championships having earned 48 All-ACC honors through the indoor and outdoor meets. In the ACC Outdoor Championship alone, Duke picked up a trio of golds, a trio of silvers and 10 bronze medals. Seventeen national All-America honors and four top-five placements were the fruits of the successful outdoor championship, and as a fitting conclusion to the Blue Devils’ celebrated season, Wilbourn earned recognition as USTFCCCA Southeast Region Coach of the Year. -Schwabe

Key departures

A successful season can be hard to repeat — especially when a team says goodbye to some of its most consistent members.

Seniors Abby Geiser and McGinnis proved critical to Duke’s outdoor dominance at the business end of the season. Geiser led the women’s team to an All-America honor in the 4×100-meter relay during the NCAA Outdoor Championship. In the 4×400-meter relay, she was part of the team that finished fifth overall and became No. 2 in ACC history. For both, the tournament marked the end to notable careers as Blue Devils. McGinnis earned gold medals in both the indoor and outdoor ACC Championships during her first two years at Duke, followed by another gold in the outdoor championship as a junior. 

On the men’s side, an ACC Championship title is a hard act to follow. Clayton — a Blue Devil fixture since transferring from Rhodes — and Forte are among the departures following this season. Both advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championship, and Forte’s dominance in long jump and decathlon will be missed. Graduate Beau Allen was ranked 22nd nationally at the end of last year’s regular season, depriving the jumpers of a key talent. Fellow graduate Guttormsen, who also qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championship and earned a bronze medal at the tournament in pole vault last year, departs after winning a gold medal at both conference championships. Despite the talent among undergraduates who still have at least one year left, Duke will have to figure out how to repair the holes left behind by team members it previously relied on. -Gangappa


Samanyu Gangappa
| Local/National Strategy Editor

Samanyu Gangappa is a Trinity junior and local/national strategy editor of The Chronicle’s 121st volume.


Colton Schwabe

Colton Schwabe is a Pratt junior and Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle’s 121st volume.





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