While preparing for next week's Atlantic Coast Conference championships, the men's and women's track teams shattered one school record apiece and recorded several other impressive marks over the weekend at the Virginia Tech Classic in Blacksburg, Va.
Athletes from both teams also qualified for the regional meets (the IC4A championships for the men, the ECAC championships for the women) that take place two weeks after the ACC championships.
Sophomore Kyle Leonard ran the 800 meters in 1:52.68, breaking Miles Hall's three-year-old school record by nearly a second. Within weeks of setting his school record, Hall won the ACC title in the 1,500 meters, "so it bodes well for what Kyle can do," said associate men's coach Norm Ogilvie.
"He's been looking super in practice," Ogilvie said. "I told him before the race he was ready to run a 1:52. Sometimes you plant those thoughts in an athlete's head, and he doesn't believe you."
Leonard apparently believed Ogilvie and qualified for IC4As in the process. The sophomore was nearly joined on the qualifier list by teammate Jeremy Walker, a senior who sat out part of this year because of an Achilles' tendon injury.
Walker missed qualifying for IC4As by seven one-hundredths of a second, finishing in 1:54.97 in his first 800-meter race in three weeks. He will try again to qualify at the ACC championships.
For the women's team, junior Lisa Bell set a school record with an 8-6 in the pole vault. Although the women's pole vault is a new NCAA event this year, both Bell and junior Becca Gould hope to qualify for ECACs next week, when they will shoot for the 9-foot mark on their vaults.
Since the ECAC meet will take the East Coast's top 12 vaulters, regardless of numbers, Bell and Gould will shoot for personal bests, rather than aiming for a specific standard they must reach.
Unlike the pole vaulters, high jumper Jamila Forte knew what height she needed for ECACs and reached it. Forte had previously eclipsed the 5-5 mark, but at Virginia Tech, she reached a new personal high and qualified for ECACs with a jump of 5-6.
Forte made the grade despite a nagging knee injury that will keep her out of practice until the middle of this week.
"She had a problem with the takeoff knee," women's coach Jan Samuelson-Ogilvie said, noting that Forte will spend extra time working in the pool. "I'm very pleased with how she's dealt with it."
Although Forte cleared the bar for the regional meet, men's pole vaulter Seth Benson just missed. But by vaulting 15-5 and narrowly missing at the IC4A height of 15-9, Benson, a freshman, showed a wealth of potential. Next week, he will try to become the first Duke pole vaulter to score at ACCs in four years.
"We feel next week he can meet IC4A [qualifying height]," Ogilvie said. "Any time a freshman can meet IC4A, that's something special."
Benson wasn't the only Blue Devil freshman who almost qualified for IC4As. Nii-Amar Amamoo, a starting defender for the men's soccer team, ran the 200 meters in 22.70 seconds, three-tenths of a second off IC4A time. In doing so, Amamoo recorded the fourth-best 200-meter time in Duke history, surpassing another two-sport star, former football defensive back Sean Thomas.
"[IC4A] has been his goal all year," Ogilvie said of Amamoo. "We weren't so sure that was realistic, but the thing is, he ran [at Virginia Tech] without starting blocks. He can use starting blocks at ACCs."
While Amamoo, a speedster in high school, had obvious potential, the same could not be said before this season for senior Lauren Banks. Banks had not run competitively in several years, but told Samuelson-Ogilvie earlier this year that she wanted to join the team.
"We're always very pessimistic when someone hasn't run for a few years," Samuelson-Ogilvie said. "It's always hard to get going again."
Banks got it going, though, and turned in a 26.92 time in the 200 meters, third-best in Duke history. Her performance, along with those of several middle-distance runners, encouraged Samuelson-Ogilvie and gave Duke a positive sign heading into its most important meets of the indoor season.
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