The men's indoor track team capped off its season by dominating the distance events at the Blue Heaven Classic in Chapel Hill.
Four of the top five finishers in the mile were Duke runners. Junior Brian Sydow won the event in 4:25.5. Sydow built an early lead with a 2:10 half-mile and eased off at the end to claim first place, beating teammate Miles Hall, a junior, by 1.5 seconds.
Sydow and Hall will compete next weekend as part of the 4x800-meter relay team which will travel to Princeton, N.J. to participate in the Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association of America (IC4A) meet. The other two members of the team, junior Pat Kelly and freshman Scott Wolckenhauer, skipped the meet so they will be well-rested for their relay.
"Brian showed that he is really ready for IC4As," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said. "Miles and Brian both ran well today."
Senior Kevin Hilton (4:34.9) and freshman Darin Mellinger (4:37.1) placed fourth and fifth, respectively in the mile race. Earlier in the day, both had competed in the 3,000-meters. In that race, Hilton placed second in 8:42.8, challenging unattached runner Rob Bucher who won the event. Mellinger ran his personal best time indoors (8:43.4) to take third place after a strong finish.
Two Blue Devils also performed well in the 800-meters. Freshman J.R. Lockwood finished second in 2:00.9, and sophomore Joe Crespo was third in 2:01.7.
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