Friday night, the men's and women's track teams participated in a little bit of history. The Blue Devils traveled to New York City for the Millrose Games, the world's oldest indoor track meet. The next day, Duke won 11 races at the Army Invitational and both the men's and women's teams placed second against Brown and Army.
In front of 14,700 fans, the men's 4x800-meter relay and women's 4x400 relay competed in the 93rd running of the meet, placing second and third respectively.
"It's an honor to be there," said associate men's coach Norm Ogilvie. "We were happy to beat people."
The men's relay, consisting of James Vasak, Mike McKeever, Kyle Leonard and Bill Spierdowis, finished in 7:40. Seton Hall won the meet in 7:37. Duke and Seton Hall have been running neck and neck all season in the 4x800-meter and have set the fastest times in the nation thus far.
Kristin Doody, Courtney Botts, Jenay McKee and Katie Atlas ran in the women's relay, which finished in 4:04.01.
The rest of the track team cheered in the audience of the Millrose, before the Blue Devils' competition at West Point Saturday.
Among the 11 winners was freshman McKee, who set a school record when she won the 55-meter dash, finishing in 7.33. McKee came within .02 seconds of also winning the 200, but was just barely nudged out at the finish line. She also anchored the winning 4x400 relay.
"She was probably the key to the meet," Ogilvie said.
Another freshman, Sheela Agrawal, also won multiple events. She set a new school record in the mile, finishing in 4:51.08 and beating the second-place finisher by 23 seconds. She also ran the third leg of the winning 4x800 relay, running the fastest split in 2:14.6.
Heather Ryan and Katie Atlas, two of the other runners in the relay, also won individual events. Ryan won the 800 in 2:17.95 and Atlas qualified for ECACs, winning the 1000 in 2:55.60.
Freshman Jenna Turner provided a pleasant surprise for the Blue Devils, placing second in her 400-meter debut. Turner, who also played soccer for Duke in the fall, finished the race in 58.52.
On the men's side, the Blue Devils dominated the distance portions of the meet. Terry Brennan and Spierdowis placed first and second in the mile in 4:11.7 and 4:13.1, respectively. Those two times, along with Leonard's second-place finish in the 1000, qualified for IC4As.
The Blue Devils also placed multiple runners in the 3000 and the 5000. Charlie Kelly and McKeever finished one-two in the 3000 one second apart. And the Blue Devils took the three top spots in the 5000, with Sean Kelly leading the way at 15:04.09.
In the field events, Mike Zulandt had a busy weekend, setting an indoor personal best in his long jump victory and placing fourth in the shot put, third in the high jump and running on the third-place 4x400 relay team.
The Blue Devils are next in action this weekend at the Virginia Tech Valentine Classic in Blacksburg, Va.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.