Finishing a mere three points behind archrival Maryland, the men's track team took second place at the Delaware Invitational this past Saturday. Trailing by as many as 32 points, Duke's distance runners led a surge that nearly gave it the championship trophy. As a team, Duke outscored Rider, Lafayette, Delaware, and LaSalle.
"We closed strong towards the end but came up just a bit short," said men's coach Norm Ogilvie.
The Blue Devils monopolized the events at and above 800 meters, winning five individual titles and placing in the top three in six distance events. Freshman Nick Schneider took first in the 800 meters with a time of 1:55.42; senior Bill Spierdowis placed first in the 1,000 meters with an ECAC-qualifying time of 2:28.37; senior Brendan Wells captured the mile in 4:18.35; senior Sean Kelly won the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:36.99; and the 5,000-meter run went to senior Jim Martin in 15:16.18.
Duke finished second in the 400-meter relay and pulled out a win in the distance relay.
Ogilvie was more than impressed with Spierdowis' performance Saturday, naming him the most valuable runner in Saturday's meet.
"We've got a lot of good things to build on," said Ogilvie. "Just about everyone improved their times from [the Maryland Invitational]. Come ACCs, we can definitely beat Maryland."
The women's team, too, was outscored by only the Terrapins, placing behind them by 53 points. Duke finished ahead of Navy, Penn, Delaware, Lafayette and Rider. Although Duke won eight events, a lack of sheer numbers and depth may have cost the Blue Devils a chance at winning the meet.
"Maryland picked up several places in events we won and got a lot of points there," said women's coach Jan Samuelson-Ogilvie.
Junior sprinter Janay McKie was the only double winner for the Blue Devils, taking both the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. Her time of 25.82 in the 200 set a new school record. Other winners included freshman Alyssa Mathe with a time of 3:03.37 in the 1,000-meter run; All-American junior Sheela Agrawal in the mile in 5:10.75; freshman Paige Miller, who won by a whopping 22 seconds in the 3,000-meter run; Phebe Ko, who took 5,000-meter run in 18:31.20; and junior Jodi Schlesinger, who set a new school record in the triple jump while qualifying for the ECAC championships with a leap of 12.8 meters. Duke's distance relay also took first with a time of 9:34.55.
Although many of the women's top runners are underclassmen, their performance Saturday is indicative of their potential.
"We had a lot of great things happen today," said Samuelson-Ogilvie. "We've got a long way to go before ACCs and NCAAs, but I'm excited about the progress we made in one week of time."
The track and field teams have some time off before women's team travels to the Penn State Open and the men's team competes at the UNC Invitational Jan. 25-26.
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