GREENSBORO - The last time the men's track and field team scored over 30 points at the Atlantic Coast Conference indoor meet, Duke had track scholarships and a team with Olympic-caliber runners. As an indication of how long ago this was, most students weren't even born yet. In 1973, the Blue Devils scored 31 points at the ACC meet, and this year, the team nearly equalled that mark by totaling 30 points.
The high point total secured a seventh-place overall finish for the Blue Devils, and several Duke athletes competed in multiple events over the two-day weekend meet to contribute to the team's cause.
"We stretched what talent we had like a big old rubberband," Duke coach Al Buehler said.
Duke scored a third of its points in the 800 meters. Sophomore Jesse Allen had a quick start, and was up front throughout most of the race, finishing in second in 1:55.25. The only person to beat Allen was Georgia Tech runner David Krummenacker, who has already automatically qualified for the NCAA meet. Freshman Kyle Leonard had finished eighth the day before to become the last qualifier for the final of the event, and on Saturday, Leonard was able to score two points with his seventh place finish in 1:56.66.
Allen's 800-meter races were only his first and second open 800s ever, since he has only run relay legs before this season. Allen was a part of two relays over the weekend, running a 49.0 400-meter leg on the fourth-place distance medley relay team of freshmen Brain McCulley and Matt Diglio and junior Mike Park, which ran a 10:08.31 to contribute five points. He then ran the anchor leg on the 4x400-meter relay team that placed fifth, running a 49.1 split. He and teammates McCulley, Diglio and freshman Lamar Grant ran a 3:19.47 to score four points for the Blue Devils.
Allen's second-place finish in the 800 was the highest finish for a Blue Devil in an ACC meet since Miles Hall won the 1,500 meters at the outdoor ACC meet two years ago.
"I'm very happy with my performance," Allen said. "There are a lot of top notch 800-meter runners in the ACC."
In addition to leading off the 4x400-meter relay, Grant raced through two rounds of the 55 meters to make the final, and was able to add a point with his eighth place finish in 6.44. Grant was the only non-Florida State, Clemson or UNC runner in the final, facing athletes from schools which traditionally produce strong sprinters. Grant also made the finals of the long jump, and despite improving his sixth-place jump in the semifinals from 22-9 to 23 feet in the finals, he only managed to finish 10th.
"Normally when you improve in the finals you at least stay in the same position, but everybody jumped out of their heads," Duke coach Norm Ogilvie said. "It was still a very good performance."
Freshman Richmond Flowers, who like Grant is a member of the football team, also found success in the sprints. Flowers finished eighth in the 55-meter hurdles in a time of 7.71 to score a point for the Blue Devils and to qualify for the IC4A meet.
McCulley ran three miles in four races on the wooden indoor track over the weekend. McCulley ran the second leg of the 4x400 and ran an impressive 3:04.3 leadoff 1,200-meter leg in the DMR to hand-off in first for Duke in the event. McCulley also ran 4:17.49 in the qualifying heat of the mile on Friday and then came back to run a 4:16.99 the following day to finish in sixth and score three points for Duke. His mile time additionally qualified him for the IC4A meet next weekend.
"Brian will be an ACC mile champ before he graduates-he's a good one," Ogilvie said.
Senior Danny Schuman also ran in the finals of the mile for the second straight year, just making the IC4A qualifying mark of 4:17.10 by running a 4:17.03 in the semifinals. Schuman finished 10th in the finals.
Another senior who performed well was Darin Mellinger, who scored for the first time in an ACC meet by placing fifth in the 5,000 meters with his time of 15:01.31. Sophomore Tom Becker also scored in the event, running a 15:02.68 to place seventh.
"We were proud of everyone's performance," Buehler said. "They represented Duke well in a talented ACC."
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