Women's Relay Shines In Final Seconds, Hall Captures Gold, Hurricanes Complete ACC Championships

Women's Relay Shines In Final Seconds, Hall Captures Gold, Hurricanes Complete ACC Championships

by James Knable

LOUISVILLE, K.y. – The 2023 ACC Indoor Championships officially ended in Louisville Friday afternoon, and there is a ton to highlight from day three of the event. 

Moriah Oliveira came in with a final time of 52.90 in the women’s 400m dash, earning the third place spot and bronze medal. 

Hannah Hall was simply on another level in the women’s shot put, as she was crowned the ACC shot put queen after throwing a distance of 17.52m.

This new personal best for Hall was a facility record in Louisville. Look for Hannah to take her talents to NCAA Indoor Championships, which will take place in under two weeks, on March 10 and 11.

Staying in the women’s shot put category, Erikka Hill and Kristina Rakocevic stepped up on the conference’s largest stage, earning themselves new personal bests at 15.71m and 14.44m, respectively.

Russell Robinson collected his second silver medal of the event in the men’s triple jump, jumping a distance of 16.29m.

Robinson will also be making another appearance in NCAA Championships in two weeks. 

For the distance runners, well, they wanted to have some fun too. 

Austen Cannon dug deep and earned himself a time of 8:17.27 in the men’s 3000m. With Cannon’s time, this is now the program record in the men’s indoor 3000m dash.

Oskar Bambals shined once again in the middle distance event of the men’s 800m. Bambals earned himself a time of 1:47.79, a new personal best for him and is now ranked number two all time in the men’s indoor 800m record book. 

Also in the 800m, Natalie Varela continued to have an impressive outing after running a time of 2:06.01. She is now at number two in the record books when it comes to the women’s indoor 800m.

Elle Mezzio was locked in during the women’s 3000m, posting a time of 9:49.42 and also earning herself a new personal best and moves up a spot to number four in the women’s indoor 3000m.

There was something special in the air regarding the final events of the night, especially in the women’s 4×400 relay. 

The stage was set, no turning back, it all came down to this for Moriah Oliveira, Blanca Hervas, Kennedy Brace, and Sanaa Hebron. They needed to dig deep against a powerful Duke squad. 

And they did just that.

As it came down to the final turn, the final stretch, Sanaa Hebron just came right behind Duke’s Megan McGinnis

However, after an official review, Duke’s Megan McGinnis dropped the baton at the final meters of the finish line, pushing the hurricanes into first and capturing the gold medal with a final time of 3:32.56.

The indoor season went by fast, and now all that’s left is the NCAA Championships. That will take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico March 10 and 11.

To stay up to date with the University of Miami track and field team, make sure to follow @canestrack on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.