Even a person who is not a track fan could have appreciated the level of competition at the Duke Invitational last weekend. With over 1,900 athletes from 65 men's teams and 57 women's teams, the meet proved to be one of the Southeast's elite, attracting not only collegiate competitors, but also world-class athletes from around the country.
"We had more schools than we've ever had before," Duke head coach and meet director Al Buehler said. "The caliber of competition and Carolina's perfect weather brought a lot of folks out to watch."
In all, 3,000 fans were on hand as 14 new meet records were set Friday and Saturday. The first record to be broken was in the men's distance medley relay as Chris Scott, Otis Scott, Victor Madison and Joe King from St. Augustine's ran a 9:50.65 to win the event. King held off a late surge by Blue Devil Miles Hall, who anchored Duke's team with a 4:04 mile, to win the title by less than a second.
Immediately following the distance medley relay, Travis Walter of the Jock Shop Racing Team ran a 13:58.02 in the 5,000 meters to set the second record. Then, less than 10 minutes later, Walter came back to pace John Hawthorne of Virginia Tech for the first 5,000 meters of the 10,000-meter race. But Hawthorne, despite coming through the halfway mark with Walter at 14:55, finished nearly a minute behind the winner, Jeff Greene from Winthrop, who holds the new meet record at 29:55.32.
On Saturday, the first record of the day to be set and the fourth overall was in the 4x100-meter relay where the George Mason women sped to a 45.58 performance. Just after the women's event, the North Carolina All-Stars ran away with the men's 4x100-meter relay record with a time of 39.26. The team was led by Olympic gold medalist Antonio Pettigrew who anchored the race.
Athletes from St. Augustine's proved to be dominant in the 400-meter races as Otis Scott set a new record in the open 400 meters in 45.56 and Ryan Hayden won the 400-meter hurdles to break the old meet record with his time of 50.32. Not to be outdone, Karlene Haughton, also from St. Augustine's, won the women's 400-meter hurdles with a new record time of 58.78.
Joan Nesbit of the New Balance Track Club, a former UNC All-American who trains in Chapel Hill, broke her own meet record in the 1,500 meter race with her 4:18.58 performance. Nesbit won the event last year as well.
In a tight race between fellow team members, Rich Kenah of the Reebok Enclave club out-stretched Steve Holman at the finish line in the 800 meters to set a new meet record time of 1:48.13, only .05 seconds ahead of Holman.
In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, former Virginia runner Rob Cook (now with Nike North), dominated the event to win in 8:44.35. This time shattered the old meet record of 8:55.96.
Just as the meet began with a record-breaking event, it fittingly ended with one as well. The Pittsburgh women set a new record in the 4x400-meter relay with their 3:40.56 race, and East Carolina earned their meet record in the men's portion of the event in a near photo-finish, completing the race in 3:07.36, less than half of a second ahead of the NC All-Stars.
As most spectators were leaving the track, Antoine Peck from Morgan State refused to let the record total stand at 13. Peck jumped 7-3 in the high jump just minutes after the completion of the 4x400-meter relay for the 14th and final meet record.
The Duke Invitational has attracted top talent in the past. But because of the unparalleled success of this year's meet, it will likely only continue to grow.
"Duke can be quite proud to be hosting a meet like this," Buehler said.
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