The men's track team opened its outdoor season with outstanding performances in four events at the Florida State Relays. Duke took only seven athletes to Tallahassee, but with their showings in the decathlon, 400-meter hurdles, distance medley relay and 4x1,500-meter relay, the Blue Devils established themselves as a force in the upcoming outdoor season.
Perhaps the most pleasant surprise for Duke came in the decathlon, which was the first event for Blue Devil athletes. Sophomore Rob West tallied 6,368 points, the second-highest total in Duke history. West exceeded his previous personal best by more than 300 points and fell short of Tijan Redmon's Duke record by only 154 points. More importantly, West qualified for the IC4A outdoor championships, which require a score of at least 6,175.
"He's going to be a contender for points at the ACC meet," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said. "He was very solid in nine out of the 10 events, and that's what makes a good decathlete-consistency."
West virtually ensured himself of an IC4A qualifying score in the ninth event, when he threw the javelin 180 feet-14 feet more than his previous best. By clinching a spot at the IC4A meet's decathlon competition, he allowed himself to concentrate on his javelin throwing, an area in which a teammate's assistance has furthered West's progress.
"I felt confident going in that I would qualify for IC4A [in decathlon], and I did that, so the meet was a success," West said. "As far as the javelin goes, I owe a lot of credit to [sophomore] Jamie Rodriguez. He has helped me a lot and taught me how to throw very well."
In the 400-meter hurdles, another young Blue Devil asserted himself as an IC4A qualifier. Freshman Jesse Allen, running his first collegiate 400-meter hurdles race, finished fourth in the championship heat and placed fourth in Duke history with a time of 52.82 seconds. In doing so, Allen beat the IC4A qualifying time by more than one second.
Duke's relay teams enjoyed as much success as the individual competitors. In the distance medley relay, an event in which they finished fourth at the indoor IC4A competition, the Blue Devils topped all opponents at Florida State with a 10:00.20 time-seven seconds better than the second-place Marquette Warriors. Senior Doug Kling gave Duke a 25-meter lead with a 3:01.22 1,200-meter leg, and while Marquette caught up by the final leg, senior Miles Hall blew away the Warriors with a 4:12 mile on the last leg.
The 4x1,500-meter relay also saw the Blue Devils come back to win. Kling began the third leg with Duke in fifth place, but after his time of 3:56.3, the Blue Devils held a slight lead. For the second consecutive race, Hall separated himself from the pack, this time with a 3:53.3 leg.
"This was what we were hoping for from our first meet, but at the beginning of the season, you're never sure what you're going to have," Ogilvie said. "This gave us good momentum for the outdoor season.
"We lost [graduated distance runner] Pat Kelly, but we have some good new talent, and it looks like we haven't lost a step."
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