FAIRFAX, Va. -- After two races where they came within a second of breaking one of Duke's oldest track and field records, senior Pat Kelly, juniors Doug Kling and Miles Hall and freshman Mike Park finally came up big.
The team demolished the 4x800-meter relay record at the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America outdoor meet held at George Mason University, running nearly three seconds faster than the old time of 7:34.10, which was set in 1971.
The record had been eluding the team for years, and this season was Duke's most realistic opportunity to break it, with four runners able to run sub-1:55 800-meter races. Yet after breaking the indoor record and coming close to the overall record at the IC4A indoor meet, the group was unable to break the mark at either the Raleigh Relays or Penn Relays, running times of 7:34.52 and 7:34.61, respectively.
"[The record] has been a nemesis to [the current team]," head coach Al Buehler said. "They've been close, but no cigar, and they don't have the big gun like [former Duke runner and Olympian] Bob Wheeler sitting there.
"I think it's a relief, especially for Pat Kelly, who was Mr. Consistency, Mr. Reliable. It's great for Miles Hall, who is not a pure 800-meter guy, to run the anchor leg and whip up on some guys. All four of those guys can take great pride that they pulled it off as a team."
In the first heat of the trials of the race Saturday afternoon, Park led the field of six teams for most of his split before falling behind in the final 200 meters. He handed off to Kling in fifth place. Kling--who ran in the open 800-meter race just 45 minutes earlier--held this position until his final 200 meters, where he worked past the rest of the field to hand off to Kelly in the lead.
Kelly remained in first place and distanced himself from the second-place runner after his split. Hall then ran his leg at an easy pace, since he only had to finish as one of the top two teams to automatically advance to the finals. Hall finished the race in a final time of 7:38.13.
In the finals of the event on Sunday, Park started off at a conservative pace after his speedy start the day before and ran his race at the back of the pack. In his final 300 meters, however, he moved up two places to hand off to Kelly in sixth. After four seasons of not being able to break the 1:54 barrier in the 800, Kelly ran the last race of his Duke career in a personal best time of 1:53.4.
"Pat finally [broke 1:54] on the day when it really counted," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said. "He ran on every 4x800-meter relay team during his career except one. He gave us a great four years."
Kling then took the baton and ran a strong race, moving the team up to fifth place. Hall ran nearly even splits to pull ahead of another team in the last lap to finish in fourth place. His 1:51.3 leg helped set the new school record time of 7:31.66.
"Given the strong tradition of Duke track and field, I feel it was a great accomplishment to set the school record in the 4x800-meter relay," Hall said.
That race was Hall's fourth in 27 hours. He also ran in the open 1,500 meters, both in the trials and the finals.
"I was a little worried before my last race because I was tired," Hall said. "When I was warming up, I felt flat. I tried to ignore that and hoped when I got out to the race I wouldn't feel that bad. During my first lap, I heard Norm say I had to run a 58 [for the last lap] to get the school record.
"I knew if I didn't run at least a 58 I'd be pretty damn embarrassed, so I started kicking it in and felt pretty good."
In the trials of the 1,500 meters, Hall finished fifth in the first heat. The top four times in two heats, plus the next four fastest times advanced to the finals, and Hall's time of 3:49.72 easily qualified him for the finals.
In the finals of the race the next day, Hall was running comfortably in the middle of the pack at the 800-meter mark when Princeton runner Scott Anderson came barreling down the lane, pushing Hall off the track, so he had to take six or seven steps before moving back onto the track. This incident caused Hall to lose his momentum as he fell back in the group, eventually finishing in 10th place with a time of 3:49.02.
"I was hoping to run well, but I didn't," Hall said. "I thought I was ready to run a 3:45 or 3:46. I still think I'm ready, but I guess that will have to wait until next year."
There were several other athletes who also competed at the meet. Kling ran a 1:52.32 in the 800 meters to finish fourth in the third heat of the event. Duke's 4x100-meter relay team--comprised of freshmen football players Johannes Brugger, Corey Thomas, Desi Thomas and Charles London--like Hall, also had an unfortunate accident in their race. At the first handoff between London and Corey Thomas, the team in the lane next to them ran into Duke's lane, and London was unable to properly pass the baton to Thomas.
The pass was legal and within the zone, but a valuable second or more was lost. Had this not happened, the team might have made the finals. Instead, the group finished in 42.14, third place in their heat.
Desi Thomas also participated in the long jump, jumping just a few inches short of the finals in 23-2 3/4.
"He's one of the best we've ever had," Ogilvie said. "He should have the school record by graduation."
Overall, the Blue Devils scored six points, one from T.J. Redmon in the decathlon and five from the relay team. This total is one point more than Duke scored in the Atlantic Coast Conference meet just a year ago, and the IC4A meet is the second largest track meet in the nation.
"This is a fine culmination of the year's work," Buehler said. "Everybody gave us a great shot."
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