Hot and cold.
Actually, cold and hot is probably the most accurate way to describe the performances of both the men's and women's track teams this past weekend at the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania. The weather played an important role in the meet, as unseasonably cold temperatures were present to start the events while warmer, spring-like weather moved in for the final days of competition.
The women's team ran its events earlier in the competition and fell victim to the cold. The 4x400 team of Liz Lorscheider, Christine Gregorski, Jeanne McFeely and Liz Hanley ran their race in 4:07, a time good enough for a fourth place finish in their heat, yet four full seconds off of their best time of the year. Despite the difficult running conditions, Gregorski ran the best leg of the year for the Blue Devils, completing her leg in 59.9.
The 4x800 team had a more difficult time, clocking a time of 9:32. The team of Hanley, Beth Berghausen, Besty Keever and Joanna Boettinger finished the race 12 seconds slower than the 9:20 time they were shooting for.
"We were happy with the effort, but not the times," head coach Michael Forbes said. "We really had some miserable weather [in the 40's]. We thought we would have done better but we have never run in that type of weather. But it wasn't just us D all times were slower.
"Our effort was very good, we just couldn't get loose. But it really was a good finish for the season. The kids competeted well."
Similarly, the men's distance medley team had to ward off the northern weather in addition to a highly competitive field. The team's pace of 10:13 was nine seconds off their time at the Duke Invitational. The combination of three sophomores D Doug Kling, Michael Coles, Miles Hall D and senior Mark Donohue placed eighth out of the 11 teams in their heat.
"That was Mark's [Donohue] last race of his Duke career," men's assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said. "He has been one of our best distance runners for the last three years. We are going to miss him."
Running on the last day of competition, the men's 4x400 team was fortunate enough to see a change in temperature, as they put forth an impressive effort. An extremely young team comprised of three sophomores and one junior took sixth place out of 16 teams with a 7:38.48. Doug Kling ran the first leg in 1:54.5, followed by Pat Kelly's time of 1:56.2. The Hall brothers, Miles and junior Conrad, ran the last two legs for Duke, registering times of 1:52.9 and 1:54.6 respectively. Conrad Hall's time bettered his personal best by five seconds. The 4x400 team set a season best time by eight seconds in this race, and, according to Ogilvie, scored the fastest time for a Duke team in at least the last five years. The team was aiming for a time of 7:40 in the race.
"Conrad's time was a pleasant surprise," Ogilvie said. "This is a young team and will all be back next year. Overall, the middle distance relays were our strong point this season. We made some nice progress this year and we are looking forward to the future."
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