Throughout a steady drizzle Saturday afternoon, several bright spots stood out for the men's track and field team at the Duke Invitational this weekend.
"Saturday was one of the better days in Duke track in a long, long time," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said.
In the final event of the meet, the 4x400-meter relay team of sophomore Jesse Allen and freshmen James Vasak, Brian McCulley and Matt Diglio lowered their IC4A qualifying time en route to the fourth-fastest time in the event in Duke history, a 3:15.46. Allen led off with a 48.2 leg, and then both Vasak and McCulley ran 49.5 splits. Diglio anchored the team in 47.9, the first sub-48 split at Duke in the 1990's.
Outside of this relay, each member of the 4x400 team recorded seasonal bests in individual events. Allen ran a 51.5 in the 400-meter hurdles, only two-tenths of a second off an NCAA provisional qualifying time. Allen was the top collegiate finisher in his event, and placed second overall behind Erik Keter from Reebok.
All three of the freshmen ran in separate heats of the 800 meters. Diglio ran a 1:53.94 in his heat, while Vasak-the Virginia high school state champ in the 800-ran a 1:53.35 to win his heat.
"James ran a great tactical race to come from behind and win," Ogilvie said. "He did it with a lot of guts in the last 50 meters of the race."
But the best of the 800-meter runners for Duke was McCulley, who qualified for the IC4A meet with his time of 1:51.52. Ogilvie believes that is the fastest 800 time ever recorded by a freshman. Although McCulley faded somewhat coming down the final stretch, his 600-meter split time was his fastest ever, and was achieved in a strong group of runners from around the country.
"It was nice to see how he handled being in such an elite field-he handled it with poise," Ogilvie said.
Vasak, in addition to participating in the 4x400 relay and 800, also ran the 800 leg on the distance medley relay team. He teamed with senior Danny Schuman, junior Ekan Essien, and senior Darin Mellinger to help the team finish fifth in 10:02.35. Schuman led off with a 3:02.6 1,200-meter leg to pull the Blue Devils to second place out of 20 teams when he handed off to Essien. Essien then ran a 48.8 400-meter leg, an impressive time considering he had never broken 50 seconds in the quarter prior to the race. Vasak then ran a 1:53.2 split, and Mellinger anchored with a 4:17 mile.
Essien was also a part of an IC4A-qualifying team in the 4x100-meter relay. The group of Essien, sophomores Aaron Brady and Brian Berger, and junior Rob West ran a time of 43.58 to win their heat.
Junior Mike Park also qualified for IC4As by running a personal best 3:51.04 in the invitational heat of the 1,500 meters, the equivalent of a 4:08 mile. The time was Park's best by over three seconds, and placed him fifth in his heat. He felt, however, that he could have placed higher had he not been boxed in during the final 150 meters.
"There was a rabbit that helped give the race a more even pace," Park said. "I'm used to starting fast and closing fast, but this was a much more even race. Also, it helps being on your own track. I have worked so much on the final 200 meters in my head and in practice that it came automatically during the race."
The final IC4A qualifier for the Blue Devils was senior Matt Haywood, who ran a time of 9:16.13 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to finish fifth overall.
"I had no worries about hitting the qualifying time," Haywood said. "At the Raleigh Relays, I was a little timid, but this time I took it out more aggressively and kept it going for as long as possible."
The only meet record to be set on the men's side came in the triple jump, when Kendric Morgan, competing unattached, set a mark of 53-11.25 in the event.
Overall, the coaches felt that it was a successful Duke Invitational, despite the rain during the final day of competition.
"Some of the results on Saturday might have been affected by the weather," Ogilvie said. "But you have to just go out and do it. Even though it may be ugly, you have to keep competing.
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