The track team performed at record-setting levels in Rector Field House at the Virginia Tech Invitational over the weekend.
Freshman Kelly Reynolds and Beth Maher highlighted the meet, throwing Duke all-time records: Maher threw the shot put 41-feet and 11.5-inches, and Reynolds marked 52-11 in the weight throw.
There were several ECAC (women's Eastern Indoor Collegiate Championships) qualifying performances: Freshman Rachel Umberger in both the 300 meter and 800 meter races, sophomore Shannon Rowbury in the 1000 meters, sophomore Laura Stanley in the mile, and sophomores Clara Horowitz, Sally Meyerhoff and Natasha Roetter in the 3000 meter run.
Other women's highlights included Laura Chen's first-place finish in pole vault at 11-11.75 and Allison Nesbitt's seventh-place finish and personal best of 8.65 seconds in the 60 meter dash.
"There's exciting things happening with the sprinters this year," Duke head coach Norm Ogilvie said. "I can't remember the last time we qualified for the finals in the 60 meter [dash]."
The men also posted strong results. Setting the stage for the successful Blue Devils showing. Freshman Dan King, sophomore Ben Kittleson and junior Khary Sharpe went 1-2-3 in the 200 meter preliminaries in what coach Ogilvie said was a "neat sight to see."
King found success in other events as well, first posting a season best of 49.55 seconds in the 400 meter dash and then coming in at 22.18 seconds in the 200 meter dash, ranking third all time in the Duke record book. Kittleson went on to place third in the 60 meter dash followed by Sharpe, each ranking among the top-five performances in that category in Blue Devil history. Senior Brent Warner also had a strong showing in the pole vault with 16-2.75, placing second in the invitational, losing only a non-collegiate Olympic hopeful first-place finisher.
While many of the women qualified for the ECAC, many of the men qualified for their equivalent, the IC4A. Racing on a fast, banked track, Casey Reardon qualified the 1000 meter run and King in the 200 meter dash.
Also of note is the 4x400 relay team of Brett Morrell, Ian Cronin, Steve Craig and King, who improved its time from last week by six seconds and are only one second from qualifying for the IC4As.
"We're training hard, it's great that so many of our runners are qualifying already," Ogilvie said. "This is the most IC4A and ECAC qualifiers we've ever had in a January meet."
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