Five members of the men's track team demonstrated their talent to a large audience this weekend.
The Blue Devils competed in the 88th annual Millrose Games at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York on Friday. Junior Miles Hall placed third in the college mile, and the 4x800-meter relay team was second in its race at the meet.
"It was definitely a good trip up to New York for Duke," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said.
Hall ran the mile in 4:15.50, two seconds behind the winner, Ken Nason of Villanova. But midway through the race, it did not appear that Hall's time would be as good as it was.
The pack of eight runners got off to a slow, tactical pace, and Hall needed to run 2:04 in the final half-mile--and 60 seconds for the final 400 meters--to finish the race in 4:15.
"Some people can't sprint off a slow pace," Ogilvie said. "Miles acquitted himself well to a tactical pace."
Despite his third-place showing against tough competition, Hall was not entirely pleased with his performance.
"I didn't think it was the best performance I've had," Hall said. "It was a tactical race, and it wasn't all that fast. I didn't think I was aggressive enough. If I had been more aggressive toward the end of the race, I could have been closer to winning.
"This wasn't a race for time. It was more for winning. I looked it over on videotape and saw what I should have done at different points during the race."
But this race undoubtedly gave Hall some exposure on the track scene. If nothing else, the 18,000 fans in attendance got a chance to see one of the Atlantic Coast Conference's premier middle distance runners. So, did the packed stands of Madison Square Garden faze Hall?
"I had imagined it would," Hall said. "But I've been to a lot of big races. I didn't think it affected me.
"I like the idea of having a lot of fans for track. They come out for an evening of entertainment, so we try to give them a good show. It is always fun to run [at the Millrose Games]."
Shortly after Hall's race, Duke's 4x800-meter relay team took the track. Junior Doug Kling led off the event for the Blue Devils, putting the squad in third place with his 1:58 half-mile leg.
Then, freshmen Jeremy Walker and Mike Park ran 1:59 and 1:57.6 splits, respectively, to bring Duke closer to the lead.
On the anchor leg of the race, senior Pat Kelly ran a half-mile in 1:56.2 to give the Blue Devils second place with a time of 7:52.26. ACC rival Wake Forest won the race in 7:47.
"Each year, Duke has improved in the Millrose Games in the 4x800," Ogilvie said.
Several other Blue Devil runners competed at an indoor meet in Lexington, Va. on Saturday. Sophomore Brett Marcus, who finished sixth in the 3,000-meters in 9:14, had the best performance of any Duke runner in this meet.
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