It was a busy weekend for track and field, as team members competed in events in three cities and on two different continents. Sally Meyerhoff and Laura Stanley led a contingent of men's and women's distance runners in Palo Alto, Calif., at the Stanford Invitational, while the remainder of the teams competed in the Raleigh Relays. Meanwhile, freshman Clara Horowitz represented the United States Saturday in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Horowitz helped the U.S. place fourth overall as she finished 39th in the 6 kilometer run, and was the third American overall to cross the finish line. She qualified for the U.S. team by winning the 6 km USATF Junior Cross Country Championship in Houston, Tx., Feb. 15.
"Her main goal was to go out there and experience something that she might not get a chance to experience again," said assistant coach Kevin Jermyn. "And to represent the U.S."
Back stateside, the Stanford Invitational saw several strong performances from Duke runners. Freshmen Meyerhoff and Stanley ran the third and fourth fastest times in Duke history in the 5,000 meter run, despite the fact that they had previously never competed in the event. In addition, Phebe Ko, Meaghan Leon, Elizabeth Wort, Stanley, and Meyerhoff all qualified for the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships in May for their efforts.
Jermyn expressed a sense of satisfaction about the weekend.
"I was happy with every single person that ran," he said. "It was definitely a great opportunity to come all the way across the country and run against some of the best guys."
For the men's 5,000 meter, sophomore Michael Hatch and senior Jared Moore finished 12th and 19th, respectively, qualifying for the NCAA Regionals and the IC4A Championships in the process. Hatch also equaled his personal best time.
"You always have to walk away from that pretty satisfied," he said. "But at the same time I wanted to run a little bit faster."
The Raleigh Relays also saw several strong performances. The men's 4x800 relay, led by Steve Craig, finished fourth with a time of 7:33.37. Junior Lauren Matic placed fifth in the 1500 meter, notching a personal best time of 4:32.27 and qualifying for the ECAC Championships. Senior Janay McKie finished sixth in the 100 meter after tying her own school record in the event a day earlier.
"It was big for me in competing that I was able to run well, but you should definitely run faster in the finals," she said. "Sometimes you grow a little impatient, a little excited, but it's early and I definitely expect to have a good season."
Despite having to endure intermittent spurts of rain Saturday, Duke runners remained positive about the Raleigh Relay.
"The rain didn't really bother us," said freshman Allison Nesbitt. "The meet set a nice tone for the rest of the season."
The teams look forward to the NCCU Invitationals in Durham, May 4-5.
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