Duke Quad Meet
- Friday, September 26, 2025
- Taishoff Aquatics Pavillion, Durham, North Carolina
- 25 Yards (SCY)
- PDF Results
- Results also on Meet Mobile: “25_26 Duke Quad”
On Friday, Boston College, the East Carolina women, and the Marymount men made the trip to Duke’s campus for a dual meet. It was opening day for all four teams, with tri-meets occurring on both sides—the women faced Duke vs. Boston College vs. East Carolina while the men competed in Duke vs. Boston College vs. Marymount. Duke emerged victorious in both the men’s and women’s tri-meets.
Final Scores:
- Duke men defeated Marymount – 218.00-43.00
- Duke men defeated Boston College – 155.00-106.00
- Duke women defeated East Carolina – 202.00-59.00
- Duke women defeated Boston College – 207.00-54.00
The Duke women were dominant on the day, winning all but one event. They kicked things off with a convincing showing in the 200 medley relay, defeating their own ‘B’ team by just under four seconds at 1:40.62. Their quartet featured Ali Pfaff (25.10), Kaelyn Gridley (27.82), Heather White (24.50), and Tatum Wall (23.20).
Pfaff, a junior, went on to win both the 100 back (53.18) and 100 free (50.17), leading from start to finish in both races. In those two events, Duke completed a 1-2-3 punch, with sophomore Kate Meyers-Labenz (54.71) and freshman Tierney Lenahan (55.26) next to the wall in the 100 back, and senior Tatum Wall (50.97) and Lenahan (51.50) claiming 2nd and 3rd in the 100 free.
Pfaff’s lifetime best sits at 51.11 from the ACC Championships last season where she placed 7th, while her 49.14 PB in the 100 free stems from a dual meet vs. Northwestern last November.
Senior Audrey Portello staked her claim on three wins as she showed off her range in the 200 free, 500 free, and 200 IM. It was a nail-biter in the 200 free, where senior Emily Gantriis and freshman Sidney Arcella gave her a run for her money. Gantriis took the race out strongest, hitting the halfway mark at 52.93 compared to Portello’s 53.90 and Arcella’s 54.14. Come the 150, Portello trimmed Gantriis’ advantage down to 0.89, then proceeded to outsplit her by almost two seconds on the final 50 to seal the win in 1:51.44. Arcella closed in a near identical split to Portello, 28.85 to 28.75, and it was enough to run down Gantriis for 2nd in 1:51.76. Gantriis settled for 3rd in 1:52.22.
Portello left no stone unturned in the 500, where she led from the very first stroke and secured the win in 4:57.61, the only woman to crack five minutes. Boston College freshman Natalie Holmes out-touched Arcella for 2nd by 0.07, 5:08.38 to 5:08.45, as the only two others to break 5:10.
The 200 IM was more of the same story—she won by 3.51 seconds and led from the jump at 2:02.48, leading a Duke sweep with freshman Scarlett McGlinchey (2:05.99) and senior Martina Peroni (2:06.24).
Given that Portello’s best times in those events rest at 1:50.68, 4:48.32, and 2:00.94, her performances tonight are promising for a season opener.
Gridley swept the breaststroke races with times of 1:01.80 and 2:15.12, which was to be expected after she made both ‘A’ finals in both events at the NCAA Championships last March—4th in the 200 and 8th in the 100. Her best time in the 100 is 58.14 from a dual meet with UNC in January, while her 200 breast mark of 2:04.94 from the 2024 NCAAs where she also placed 4th.
The Boston College freshman duo of Savannah Branon (1:05.20) and Allie Donkar (1:06.37) finished behind Gridley in the 100, while McGlinchey (2:20.74) and East Carolina senior Heidi Bruining (2:23.25) took 2nd and 3rd in the 200.
Freshman White took the wins in the 50 free (23.20) and 100 fly (55.33), not too far off her 22.69 and 54.14 career bests in the events, with the times particularly promising for a season opener with a few months to go before midseason invites commence. Wall (23.39) and Gantriis (23.56) followed her in the 50, with Peroni (56.18) and junior Molly Donlan (56.56) taking 2nd and 3rd in the 100 for two additional Blue Devil sweeps.
White (50.92), Lenahan (51.01), Pfaff (50.32), and Wall (50.69) cleared East Carolina by 6.63 seconds in the 400 free relay to cap off the session, winning in 3:22.94 to 3:29.58. Boston College settled for 3rd with a time of 3:30.40.
The only non-Duke win came in the 1000 free, where East Carolina freshman Tanith Mueller (10:23.30) took the win over a pair of Blue Devil representatives—freshman Keala Klein (10:30.26) and senior Sadie Covington (10:38.87).
On the men’s side, Duke swept both relays to set the tone early. Their ‘A’ team of Gus Koh (24.19), Jack Smith (25.04), Justin Wong (21.76), and Milo Shue (20.05) hit the wall in 1:31.04, just over a second ahead of the team’s ‘B’ quartet in the 200 medley relay.
The 400 free relay turned into a much more hotly-contested affair, with Duke barely edging Boston College by just 0.36 seconds. The Blue Devils’ foursome of Shue (45.36), Colin Mikuliecky (45.66), Justin Wong (45.90), and Owen Waibel (45.58) held off a charging Boston College quartet of Gabriel Aleman (45.83), Lucas Bailey (45.60), Luke Condon (46.25), and Palmer Bice (45.18).
Duke freshman Charlie Kulp made an immediate statement in his collegiate debut, capturing a pair of distance events. He touched first in the 200 free at 1:41.04 after a thrilling back-and-forth battle with Boston College freshman Ryan Mendlick. Kulp held a slim lead at the 100, but fell to second by a tenth with 50 to go before rallying back to win, 1:41.04 to 1:41.90.
In the 500 free, Kulp faced another tight battle from Boston College freshman Matt Cinque. Trailing through the 400 turn, Kulp seized the lead by less than a tenth. He kicked home to victory in 4:37.60. Cinque earned runner-up honors in 4:38.81, while fellow BC freshman Nick Fabian cracked 4:40 for 3rd place in 4:39.73.
Duke senior Justin Wong dominated both butterfly events with signature performances. In the 100 fly, he held just a few hundredths lead at the 50 over BC freshmen Evan Tack (50.00) and Cathal Ryan (50.19), but surged home to post the only sub-50 clocking at 49.41. Come the 200 fly, Wong blasted out to an early lead with over a second cushion at the halfway turn. He held on down the stretch to win by just under four tenths in 1:52.16. BC freshman Augustas Lapys (1:52.53) checked in for 2nd, with Duke sophomore Samir Elkassem (1:54.52) nabbing 3rd.
Duke’s veterans performed as anticipated in their signature events. Smith led wire-to-wire in the 100 breast (55.66), while freshman Raphael Wang took the 200 breast (2:02.80). Shue powered to victory in the 50 free (20.36), and junior Andrew Li controlled the 200 IM from start to finish (1:51.79).
While Duke’s depth and veterans were the clear highlight, Boston College’s freshman class certainly made their presence known. The visiting Eagles’ first-years truly stole the show, capturing three individual wins against the home team and serving notice that this dual meet wouldn’t be the blowout the scores might suggest. Tack emerged as one of the day’s biggest surprises, posting the session’s only sub-50 backstroke split to win the 100 back in 49.52. Duke’s Koh (50.63), and BC freshman Luke Amerson (51.09) rounded out the top three.
Palmer Bice delivered another statement win for the Eagles, touching the wall in 45.84 to take the 100 free over Duke’s Shue (45.91), with teammate Bailey claiming 3rd in 45.94.
The Boston College freshman freight train kept rolling as Amerson doubled up in the backstroke events, capturing the 200 back in 1:51.23. He held off teammate Jonah Nahanson (1:51.96) and Duke freshman Cade Anderson (1:52.12) for another BC 1-2 finish.
The meet’s most thrilling race came in the 1000 free, where BC freshman Matt Cinque (9:29.52) outlasted Duke freshman Anderson Kopp (9:29.74) by just 0.22 seconds, with fellow BC freshman Nick Fabian (9:29.96) making it a three-man battle separated by less than half a second. The trio stayed stroke-for-stroke through 950 yards before Cinque found that extra gear in the final 50 to secure the victory.
