The men's and women's track teams will send their very best to Philadelphia Thursday to compete in the oldest and largest track meet in America, the Penn Relays. The stands at Franklin Field will packed with over 100,000 spectators over the course of the weekend, as the Blue Devils hope to continue their long history of Penn Relay Champions dating back to the 1940s.
The women will start the meet for Duke with a host of distance running events Thursday. Clara Horowitz, a favorite in the 3-kilometer race, will go into the meet confident after a strong performance at last week's ACC Championships.
Also, the Blue Devils have five runners entered in the 5-kilometer race who have been running solidly all season. Heidi Hullinger, Paige Miller, Natasha Roetter, Elle Pishney and Phebe Ko all have one last shot at qualifying for NCAA Regionals in the 5k.
Liz Wort, who won the college steeplechase last year, will return to try her chances at the championship level this year.
The highlight of the meet for the women will likely be the distance medley relay, with the team competing at the elite invitational Championship of America level. The team will be comprised of Sally Meyerhoff running the 1200-meter portion, Lindsay Owen running the 400-meter, Meaghan Leon running the 800-meter leg and Shannon Rowbury anchoring with a mile run.
"We will definitely be competitive with the very best in the country [in this event]," coach Norm Ogilvie said.
Headlining the field events for Duke is freshman Debra Vento, seeded sixth at the championship level, competing in the high jump. Beth Maher, hot off her record-setting performance last weekend, will throw the shot put this weekend, while fellow freshman Kelly Reynolds will throw the hammer. To round out the Duke women competing in field events, Laura Chen will try to build off of last weekend's NCAA Regional qualifying pole vaults.
Freshman Keith Kreiger, trying to earn a NCAA Regional qualifying time, will run for the men in the 5-kilometer race to take place Thursday night. While Kreiger's muscles may be a bit tired from his personal best 10-kilometer race last weekend, he is shooting for a 5k qualifying time of 14:18 Thursday.
"Keith needs to shave off eight seconds," Ogilvie said. "I definitely think he will be able to do it."
Similar to the women's side, the men's distance medley is likely to be a top race for the Blue Devils. The team is comprised of Casey Reardon running the 1200m portion, Dan King running 400m, Jon Amt running 800m and Nick Schneider anchoring with a mile.
"This is the best distance medley Duke has put out in 30 years," Ogilvie said. "All four are in peak condition and are set to run very fast."
Senior Brent Warner has perhaps the most expectations to meet now that the sakes are high. Warner is seeded second in the pole vault at the championship level, and with a strong performance he could earn himself another All-American honor for the year.
After under-performing at the ACC Championship meet last weekend, Duke's very best will look to redeem themselves at the Penn Relays.
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