Going into this weekend's competition at the Emory Invitational in Atlanta women's track head coach Michael Forbes wanted his team to finish in the top three. The team accomplished that goal by combining strong individual and relay performances to finish second.
"The meet went great," Forbes said. "We took twenty athletes [to the meet] and eighteen contributed to the scoring. It was a real team effort."
Forbes noted the strong performance of freshman Megan Mitchell, who set a school record in the shot put in only her third outdoor meet of the season.
Freshman Veronica Davi placed second in the 400-meter hurdles. Her time of 64.23 seconds, the fourth best in Duke women's track history, set a new freshman record. Adding to these strong freshman performances was Liz Hanly who won first place in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:40.37.
Vanessa Chartouni performed well in the 3000 meters, earning first place in the event and setting a meet-record time of 10:22.36. In the 800, Beth Berghausen ran a personal-best time of 2:18.43 that was good for first place.
Tracey Stevenson garnered third place in the 10,000, an event that she had never competed in prior to this weekend. Her time of 38:05.1 was the fifth-best time in Duke history. Christine Gregorski won sixth place in the 200 with a time of 27.05 and also had the fourth best shot put throw in Duke history.
The team is presently preparing for the Duke Invitational which is to be held next weekend. Forbes hopes to see more individual best times.
Thirty-five teams from states such as New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan as well as teams like North Carolina, Wake Forest and N.C. State will be competing in the Duke Invitational. The Invitational will begin Friday, April 9 at 4:30 p.m. at Wallace Wade Stadium.
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