It is not the ending, it is just the beginning.
That is the attitude the men's track team took going into last weekend as they traveled to participate in North Carolina's Blue Heaven Track Meet. Duke did not approach this meet as their final meet of the indoor track season, but instead put together some impressive victories and will use those as a stepping stone towards the upcoming outdoor season.
Four personal bests in the field events and several victories in the middle distances allowed Duke to have one of its best meets of the season. Duke was strong in both the mile run and 880-yard run taking first and third in both events.
Assistant coach Norm Ogilvie thought the season was a positive one for Duke.
"As a team we improved in the Atlantic Coast Conference meet," Ogilvie said. "It was the first time in three years we had scored points and we almost beat Maryland.
Freshman Miles Hall was one of many Blue Devils running strong races. His time of 1:59 was good enough to win the mile. Sophomore teammate Pat Kelly came in one second behind him to take third place in 2:00.
Senior Mark Donahue and sophomore Doug Kling kept pace with their teammates by also taking first and third, respectively, in the mile. Donahue ran a 4:23 in winning the race while Kling was not far behind in 4:25 to capture third place for the Blue Devils.
Seeing their running mates do so well on the track must have compelled the athletes in the field events to new heights. In the pole vault senior Brad Breedlove and junior Matt Anderson both vaulted to personal records. Breedlove cleared 15-7 to achieve his season's best.
Breedlove came close to clearing 16-0, only to fall a little short. Anderson set an indoor personal record by clearing 15 feet.
Freshman Jeff Smith also set an indoor personal record by clearing 6-6 in the high jump. The final Duke athlete to set a personal best was sophomore Plymouth Nelson. His throw of 48-3 was another good point for the Blue Devils to use to prepare for the upcoming outdoor track season.
The two mile relay would be running in the IC4A meet this weekend, but freshman Doug Cobos has been diagnosed with a stomach virus and looks to be out for the week. Cobos was key part of the team and Duke did not want to run in such a competitive meet without its best team.
The two-mile relay qualified for the IC4A meet four different times and several runners got a chance to run in front of 18,000 fans at Madison Square Garden.
The men's team will start its outdoor season with a trip to Florida during spring break. They will race in the Florida A & M Relays on Mar. 13 and the Florida State Relays Mar. 19-20.
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