Sandwiched between last week's Four-Way Track Meet in Army and the upcoming competitions in Boston and Delaware, both track teams used the Virginia Tech Invitational this past weekend to make a few lineup decisions and continue qualifying for postseason meets.
Duke entered 15 men and women, with the men turning in a number of strong performances.
The men's distance medley, 4x400 and 4x800 relays all earned marks low enough to qualify them for the IC4As. The 4x800 team set a fieldhouse record Saturday with the third-best time at Duke, 7:38.87.
The team of Bill Spierdowis, James Vasak, Kyle Leonard and Mike McKeever led wire-to-wire and beat second-place James Madison by close to four seconds.
This same Duke team had lost the distance medley Friday, finishing third in 10:03.01, but earned a measure of revenge in the 4x800.
The Blue Devils' starting cornerback, Lamar Grant, also hit the track this weekend and ran the 200 meters in 22.34, qualifying him for IC4As by six-hundreths of a second. Grant followed that up by joining Dhamien Blue, Josh Kommer and Mike Zulandt in the 4x400.
Duke's relay teams were missing sophomore Brendan Fitzgibbon, who sat out the meet as the Blue Devils sorted out which lineups worked best. Fitzgibbon will return in Boston this weekend with a fairly solidified lineup.
"We figured out who we think our best team is at this time," men's coach Norm Ogilvie said. "For now, we think we have our best lineup."
In the field events, Seth Benson placed second, clearing a height of 16 feet, two-and-three-fourths inches. Benson's vault was the best in the ACC so far this year and second best for Duke all-time.
On the women's side, Jillian Schwartz also performed well in the pole vault. By clearing 10-6, Schwartz joined Lisa Bell in the Duke record books and came within just six inches of qualifying for the NCAAs.
"We're definitely ahead of where we were a year ago," Ogilvie said. "You can see it in the workouts. The results today are remarkably better."
Ogilvie said the Blue Devils have been helped the last few weeks by continued good weather, which has allowed better practice time.
"It's great for us," Ogilvie said. "We think it's a real big advantage. This winter's been exceptionally mild so we feel real fortunate."
Duke is now preparing for two meets this weekend. The Blue Devils will send 12 athletes to the Terrier Classic in Boston and a squad of 50 to Delaware. The Terrier Classic features some of the best collegiate track stars in the country.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.