When the men's track team has needed a lift in recent years, it has often turned to Miles Hall to turn in a strong performance.
Hall, a senior, has been Duke's MVP the past two years, but he had been nursing a sore Achilles tendon and had not run up to full speed in his first meet back last weekend. On Friday night, though, Hall again reclaimed his role as the Blue Devils' on-the-track leader, as he ran a 3:03.4 in the 1,200-meter leg of the distance medley relay at the U.S. Air Invitational in Johnson City, Tenn.
"Miles Hall certainly served notice that he is back," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said. "He ran a very nice leg on the [distance medley relay]."
The Duke distance medley squad placed seventh in the meet in 10:10.67. The squad's performance was a five-second improvement over its time from the previous week, but it was 10 seconds slower than last season's Duke team ran at the U.S. Air Invitational.
Senior Joe Crespo led off for Duke by running 1:59.5 in the 800 meters, and then freshman Jesse Allen ran 49.9 seconds in the 400 meters. Then Hall took the baton and brought Duke into contention from near the back of the pack. Senior Doug Kling was Duke's anchor, running an aggressive 4:17.5 in the mile leg.
Hall returned to the track the next morning--less than 12 hours after running in the distance medley relay--to compete in the mile as a tune-up for his appearance in the college mile at the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in New York next weekend. On Saturday morning, Hall ran 4:20 to take sixth place in the fast heat of the mile. Junior Danny Schuman placed second in the third heat of the event in 4:25.52.
The 4x400 meter relay squad of Allen, junior Jason Manse and sophomores Mark Simmons and Jeremy Walker will join Hall in New York next weekend. The squad ran the race in 3:23.47 despite a collision on the first exchange of the baton. Allen ran his leg in 50.1 even though he had just run in the distance medley relay. Walker was the Blue Devils' fastest runner in the event, finishing his anchor leg in 50.0 seconds.
"We were very pleased with the way they competed," Ogilvie said. "They can certainly compete well enough to go to New York [for the Millrose Games]. They have to be more alert in the zone during handoffs, though."
Duke's distance runners also were successful at the U.S. Air Invitational. Freshman Tom Becker was fourth in the 5,000 meters in 15:04.83, and junior Matt Haywood was sixth in 15:09.95. Freshman Brandon Busteed won the 3,000 meters in 8:57.64, with senior captain Pat Neville and junior Darin Mellinger not far behind.
Sophomore Charles London won his heat of the 200 meters on Friday night in 22.50. His time was just .10 seconds off the qualifying mark for the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (IC4A) meet.
"He definitely can make the IC4A mark with a couple of more attempts," Ogilvie said.
Several other Duke runners competed at the Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill on Sunday. The Blue Devils' distance runners continued their success in that meet, freshmen Colin Young (8:51.88) and Scott Antoun (8:57.28) took first and second in the 3,000 meters and senior Shawn Hynes placed fifth in 9:06.39. All three performances were personal best times.
"It's great to see that [Young] is back," Ogilvie said. "That is a very good performance. A UNC guy led for the first mile, but Colin ran really smart. He ran even splits.
"This really bodes well for the future."
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