Breaking school and personal records has almost become routine for the women's track and field team.
This weekend at the Kent Multi Invitational in Kent, Ohio, the Blue Devils broke two school records, tied another, broke a freshman record and had 11 athletes set one or more personal bests.
"It's amazing how people respond when people see Duke on your chest," head coach Mike Forbes said. "They respect you, but they want to beat you. I think [the team] lived up to its reputation."
In her best performance ever, sophomore Valenica Eggleston had personal bests in three of her five events in the pentathlon--the long jump, high jump and 800 meters--in route to a new school record of 2,832 points and third place at the meet.
Before going into the final event, Eggleston knew that she would have to run a 2:38 or better in the 800 meters to achieve the record. Her time of 2:33.92 was 18 seconds faster than her previous best.
"The biggest surprise was that Valenica wasn't feeling well on the flight up, but she overcame that and got her head into her events," Forbes said.
"I've been expecting this for two years now," assistant coach Scott Yakola said. "I'm very proud and excited that it's finally come."
A school record was also established in the 600 meters, the first time Duke had ever run the event in a meet. Three Blue Devils finished within five seconds of each other, yet it was freshman Colette Gurtler who came out on top with a time of 1:40.81 to capture third place and a new school and freshman record.
Junior Nicola Crabtree and freshman Jenn Byers finished in 1:43.83 and 1:45.39, respectively.
Two other freshmen earned a spot in the Duke record books, but one, Kim Hay, is not a newcomer. Hay once again tied the school record in the 55 meters with her 7.44 performance.
Kristin Faraguna was only five seconds off teammate Robin Schretter's first-place finish in the 3,000 meters with her time of 10:20.46, good for a new freshman record in the event. Schretter, who ran a 10:15.05, led almost the entire race, but Faraguna worked her way up to finish in fourth place.
In the high-jump portion of the heptathlon, freshman Kim Voyticky broke her nose and wasn't able to compete in the last part of the event, the 800 meters. Only one day after the accident, though, Voyticky led off the 4x400-meter relay with a split of 59.8. The team, consisting of Voyticky and sophomores Megan James, Kirsten Johnson and Jenny Stadler, cruised to a third-place finish in 4:09.44.
In the open 800 meters, senior Karin Stephens ran a personal best 2:19.19, her best time since her freshman year due to nagging injuries in her sophomore and junior years.
"Karin has been a huge influence to the younger runners," Yakola said. "She has brought leadership to all our practices and meets."
The meet was the first one of the year which totaled team scores. Only seven teams participated in the meet, and all except Duke were Division III. Host Kent State won the meet with 164 points, followed closely by Appalachian State with 158 points. Duke was a distant third with a final score of 66.5 points, but the coaches were still pleased with the team's performance.
"They've had a taste of success and now they're hungry," Yakola said.
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