Both the men's and women's track and field teams opened their indoor season this past weekend at the Father Diamond Invitational at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
Because of the recent snowstorms hitting the East Coast, it was difficult for the teams to practice earlier last week, with only one lane on the track open for the teams to run. Even that single lane had to be shoveled off by the coaches and runners themselves. Although training was difficult, racing in the confines of the indoor track proved that both teams are off to a good start.
"There's no doubt that we're a stronger team than last year," assistant women's coach Scott Yakola said. "We have an outstanding freshman group to compliment last year's group of freshmen, and our seniors and juniors are very, very good. We now have depth in areas we were weaker in before--we have depth in the 400 meters, the relays and the heptathlon."
Several athletes opened well, including sophomore high jumper Jamila Forte. Forte placed third in the event, jumping 5D4.25 feet.
"She hit all the heights she went out at," Yakola said. "It shows the work she put in over the summer and fall."
Freshman Stephanie Thomas broke the freshman record in the 500 meters with a new time of 1:20.38 to finish in ninth place. Sophomore Kim Voyticky finished just ahead of Thomas in eighth place with her time of 1:19.97. Both times are on Duke's list of top five performances in the event. Thomas also had the fastest split on the 4x400-meter relay and Voyticky had a personal best throw of 27D4.5 feet in the shot put.
Freshman Jeanie Minton was just two inches shy of breaking the school record in the triple jump with her jump of 35D6 feet, good for ninth place in the event. In addition, senior Liz Hanly also turned in one of Duke's top five performances in the mile with her personal best time of 5:14.70.
Junior Kirsten Johnson also had a good start to her season after not being able to jump over any hurdles for nearly a week because of the weather. Johnson finished eighth in the finals of the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.71 and ran her second fastest 200 meters ever in 27.74.
"You don't realize how much you lose because of the weather," Yakola said. "It is easy to get down mentally but no one did. They showed a lot of maturity and a willingness to accept the situation."
Although the weather certainly had an effect on training for those living in the Eastern part of the country, freshman Tom Becker had little problems running at home in California over winter break. This was evident as the cross country MVP won his heat of the 3,000 meters in a time of 8:44.80 and had the fifth fastest collegiate time in the meet. Heading into the last lap, Becker kicked past a Mayland runner to claim the victory.
Another freshman, Jesse Allen, opened his season in the 500 meters with a time of 1:06.52, placing him second in his heat and just off the IC4A qualifying mark. Allen also had the fastest leg of the 4x400-meter relay in 50.2. Sophomore Ekan Essien also ran on the relay team but showed even greater potential in the long jump where he placed fifth in the event with a jump of 21D9.
There were also several veterans who ran well at the meet. Senior Doug Kling, a member of last year's school-record 4x800 meter team, was just three seconds off the IC4A qualifying time in the mile with his 4:20.20 performance. Junior Shane Shephard also did well in the mile, running a personal best time in the race by over 10 seconds to finish in 4:22.34. Senior Joe Crespo was fourth in his heat of the 1,000 meters with a time of 2:32.68.
"I was very happy with the performances of the three newcomers and the three veterans," assistant men's coach Norm Ogilvie said. "Right now we're not very sharp. We looked a little flat this weekend, but we're going to work hard the next couple of weeks. We're definitely going to be a better team."
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