The women’s sprint relays shined for the Blue Devils in the squad’s penultimate race of the outdoor regular season.
Duke traveled to Philadelphia for the historic Penn Relays, earning seven top-five finishes, including a bronze medal in the women’s sprint medley relay.
The Oregon and Clemson squads took off at the starting gun of Friday’s championship heat of the sprint medley relay, leaving the Blue Devils in a close race with Jamaica’s University of Technology for the final spot on the podium. Seniors Lauren Hansson and Elizabeth Kerpon led off on the two 200-meter legs, passing the baton to sophomore Madeline Kopp with the 400-meter stretch. Junior Anima Banks brought home the final 800 meters, putting space between Duke and the Jamaica squad. The Blue Devils claimed the bronze in 3:49.63.
Hansson, Kerpon and Kopp returned to the track Saturday, joined by freshman Maddy Price, for two more of Duke’s highlight races. The sprint quartet finished fourth in the championship heat of both the 4x400 and 4x200 meter relays. After breaking the school record in the 4x200 in Friday’s preliminary heats in a time of 1:35.38, the Blue Devils bested their own mark the next day by a second and a half.
With the two seniors on the leadoff and anchor legs, Duke turned in a combined time of 1:33.83.
On the men’s side, junior Tommy Meister, senior Henry Farley, sophomore Dylan Murphy and senior Nate McClafferty teamed up to record the third-fastest time in program history in the men’s 4x800 meter relay. The Blue Devils finished eighth overall in a close field. Farley recorded the fastest leg with a split of 1:50.10 and McClafferty contributed a 1:51.02 leg as the squad finished in a combined time of 7:25.39.
Duke sent a small contingent of individual event athletes to compete in the field events and Thursday’s distance carnival.
Redshirt junior Teddi Maslowski—named last week’s ACC Field Performer of the Week after breaking school records in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles en route to a heptathlon record—produced another standout performance in Thursday’s long jump. The Burgettstown, Pa., native outclassed the field with a mark of 19 feet, 5 1/2 inches on her first attempt but was not finished. Maslowski recorded her best jump on her sixth and final try, clearing 19 feet, 10 1/4 inches.
Junior Maddie Morrow also earned a top-five finish in Thursday’s high jump, tying for fourth place. Morrow cleared her first three heights on her first attempt and finished at 5 feet, 6 inches.
In the distance races, sophomore Stephen Shine clocked a career-best in the 5,000 meters and took second in 14:24.68. On the women’s side, graduate student Jessie Rubin turned in a time of 34:44.09 in the 10,000 meters for a fourth-place finish.
The Blue Devils will return to action in two weeks, hosting the two-day Duke Twilight meet May 6 before turning their attention to the ACC Outdoor Championships in Tallahassee, Fla., starting May 14.
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