The women's track and field team continued on its whirlwind path of setting personal bests and breaking school records last weekend at the Wake Forest Relays in Winston-Salem.
"I'm scared of how fast they're going to run in upcoming meets," assistant coach Scott Yakola said. "I'm looking forward to it and I think they are too."
Senior Beth Berghausen, senior Jeanne McFeely, sophomore Betsy Keever and junior Karen Stephens broke the school record in the 4x800 meter relay with a time of 9:18.7. This is the first record of the outdoor season to be broken, but the meet was also the first outdoor meet which the entire team participated in.
Twelve personal bests were also achieved at the meet. In the distance events, junior Amy Gravitt was fourth overall in the 5,000-meters in 18:32.54 and junior Robin Schretter was fifth in the 3,000-meters in 10:31.2. In the middle distance events, McFeely placed seventh in the 1,500-meters with a personal best time of 4:38.54 and Keever finished closely behind in 4:44.9.
In the relays, the shuttle hurdle relay team of freshman Kirsten Johnson, junior Kris Stout, senior Christine Gregorski and freshman Valenica Eggleston placed second in 67.71. Johnson also ran a 15.88 in the 100-meter hurdles, good for eighth place. The 4x1,600 meter relay team of sophomore Jenny Bischoff, Schretter, freshman Raquel Salume and freshman Kathy Lockwood placed fourth in 22:33.84.
On the field, sophomore Megan Mitchell threw the discus 105-11, Eggleston threw the shot put 31-4.25, and freshman Breanna Pearson long jumped 15-11.75, all personal bests.
These performances were a little surprising considering gusts of wind of up to 30 mph during some of the events. Head coach Mike Forbes feels the wind did affect the times and that the athletes had to raise their effort level up a notch to achieve personal bests despite the conditions.
"A lot of kids showed a lot of heart," Forbes said. "At this stage of the season, that's what you're looking for."
NOTE: Gregorski will have a chance to break the school record in the heptathalon when she competes in the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla., on Wednesday and Thursday. Gregorski has the second highest point total in Duke history, but because there are few heptathalons at meets the team attends, she will travel to Florida where there will be one.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.