At 7 p.m. last night, women's track coach Jan Samuelson-Ogilvie and freshman phenom Sheela Agrawal stared at their respective computers, waiting for the NCAA mile field to pop up on their screens. And they waited. And then waited some more.
About two hours later, Samuelson-Ogilvie checked her e-mail and learned that the wrong website was listed in the NCAA rule book. Minutes later, they found out what they had been waiting for: Agrawal had been selected for the NCAA Championships.
"I'm really excited," Agrawal said. "I was a little bit unsure about whether or not I'd get in. I ended up hearing around nine, I was sweating it out."
When Agrawal runs this Friday in Fayetteville, Ark., she will become the only Duke woman ever to compete in the indoor NCAAs. She will also be the only freshman in the 17-member mile field.
Agrawal set her qualifying time-4:45.58-in the mile preliminaries in this weekend's ECACs. Agrawal's time stacked up 13th among the 17 qualifiers.
"She worked very hard for us this year," Samuelson-Ogilvie said. "I'm very excited for her. She's made outstanding progress, which bodes well for this week and her future."
Agrawal will first run in the preliminaries Friday night. The top 10 times move on to the finals Saturday.
"She has a good shot to make the finals," said men's associate head coach Norm Ogilvie.
After the NCAAs, Agrawal will continue her new experiences. From Arkansas, she will fly back to Durham and then to Portugal to represent the U.S. in the world junior cross country championships.
"I've heard neat stories about the Ethiopians and Kenyans running barefoot," she said. "I've never run against international competition. It will be nice to see where I, and the rest of the U.S. team, stack up. It will be a learning experience."
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