The Blue Devils will host more than 1,800 athletes this weekend for the Duke Invitational at Wallace Wade Stadium, making it the second largest meet on the East Coast behind the Penn Relays.
The women's team looks to make its mark in the record books as several athletes try to defend their Invite titles.
Senior Debra Vento looks to become the first student-athlete to win four straight Invite titles when she competes in the pole vault Friday at 3 p.m. The only other athlete to win four titles at the Duke Invite was Jillian Schwartz, who won three straight pole vault titles as a Duke student from 1999-2001 and a fourth as an independent.
Junior Daina Pucurs will attempt to follow Vento's lead by winning every Invite title event she has competed in. Pucurs won javelin titles her freshman and sophomore years. In the hammer throw, senior Kelly Reynolds looks to win her second consecutive title.
While the women look to defend their titles, the men are looking for their first wins in a number of events.
In one the premier races of the weekend, junior Chris Spooner and senior Keith Krieger will try to win Duke's first title in the 5,000-meter race Friday. The race will be new territory for both runners. Spooner, the reigning 1,500-meter champion is running his first collegiate 5,000-meter race while Krieger is a 10,000-meter runner.
"We felt like the 5,000 might be a better route for Spooner to advance to the NCAA championships," head coach Norm Ogilvie said. "If he can keep up with Krieger in the distance part, he'll have the fastest kick in the field as a 1500 runner and be able to make it interesting."
The Invite will run from noon to 9:30 p.m. Friday and 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday.
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