Over 2,000 athletes convened this weekend in Duke's very own Wallace Wade Stadium for the 14th annual Duke Invitational Outdoor Track & Field Meet. Drawing top collegiate athletes, Olympians and world-record holders from over 87 schools, the two-day event showcased some of the best talent in the country.
In addition to the shattering of six meet records, several Duke athletes made noteworthy appearances.
Fresh off an astounding indoor season, Jillian Schwartz once again turned heads in the pole vault, claiming the Duke Invitational title for the third year in a row. In what was her final appearance in Wallace Wade Stadium, Schwartz raised her own meet record to 13-5.25, qualifying for the NCAA championship meet and completing a successful home track winning streak. Schwartz celebrated an ACC title last spring in Wallace Wade and has dominated the pole vault at the Duke Invite since it was added as an event three years ago.
Also standing out for the Duke women was triple jumper Jodi Schlesinger. In what turned out to be the most surprising performance of the weekend, Schlesinger exploded into a 41-6 jump, smashing her personal record from last season of 37-9.
"Jodi has struggled with a hamstring injury since she arrived at Duke last year," men's coach Norm Ogilvie said. "Her jump on Friday was a tremendous improvement and places her on the national scene."
Other impressive performances included Janay McKie's school-record-breaking 100-meter dash and Kristy Doody's drastic improvement in the 800-meter run.
Both these women will join Schwartz and Schlesinger at the Eastern Collegiate Outdoor Championships, which will to be held May 17-20 at Princeton.
Though the Duke men had fewer highlights, they still produced several promising performances.
Terry Brennan, who qualified for the IC4A meet in the 3,000-meter run last weekend, narrowly missed qualifying again in the 1,500-meter competition. Brennan captured 14th place with a time of 3:51.19.
Other standouts included Tim Martin and Chris Graver's eighth and ninth finishes in the steeplechase, as well as Seth Benson's improvement in the pole vault.
"It was an experimental weekend," Ogilvie said. "Several of our top runners, including Brendan Fitzgibbon, Sean Kelly and Terry Brennan, ran unusual distances. Right now we are building up for the ACC championship in two weeks."
Despite the mediocre success of the men, Ogilvie was extremely happy with the meet as a whole.
Overall highlights included Otukile Lekote clocking in at 1:44.76 in the 800-meter run, crushing the meet record and running the fastest time in the NCAA for the 2001 season. Christopher Brown of Norfolk St. broke the 400-meter meet record with a time of 45.49, while the South Carolina women's 4x100-relay posted the fastest time in NCAA competition this year.
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