After spending most of the season competing at other schools, the men's track and field team, led by its distance runners, had a strong showing on its home turf at Wallace Wade Stadium this weekend.
Junior Miles Hall and sophomore Joe Crespo propelled the distance medley relay team to a season-best time of 10:02.69 and a come-from-behind victory, which earned the members of the team Duke Invitational watches that were awarded to victors in every event at the meet.
"I was surprised by the win, but I definitely expected that we would have a good race," Hall said.
A plethora of other Blue Devils also set personal-best times in the 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters.
Junior Pat Kelly led off the distance medley for Duke with a 3:03.5 run in the 1,200 meters. Kelly made up for the slow pace of the first lap by running the final half-mile of his leg of the relay in an astonishing 1:58.
Freshman Jason Manse then took the baton and ran a solid 400 meters in 49.7 seconds to keep the team in contention with the squads from Wake Forest and Ohio University.
Manse handed the baton to Crespo who obliterated his personal record in the 800 meters with his 1:55.4 showing on Friday evening. Crespo had never previously broken two minutes in the half-mile.
"I thought that Joe was ready to burst out with one, but this was a phenomenal run," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said.
Hall stayed on the heels of Wake Forest's anchor runner for the first three laps of the 1,600-meter leg of the race. He conserved enough energy to pull ahead in the final 150 meters of the race and secure the Blue Devils' victory. Hall's 4:13.8 time for the 1,600 meter portion of the race was a personal record.
"Miles ran a very smart race," Ogilvie said. "By holding back at the beginning, he assured that we would win the race. He has been consistent all season."
Both Hall and Crespo came back Saturday to run personal bests in the 1,500 meters and to lead the 4x400-meter relay team to its best time of the year. Manse and freshman Scott Wolckenhauer also contributed to Duke's 3:23.87 performance in the relay. As in the distance medley, Hall ran the anchor leg in the 4x400.
"It adds a little more pressure to be an anchor," Hall said. "While the pressure is greater, it seems to help to be able to know that after I'm done running, the race is over and I can relax."
Hall finished the 1,500 in 3:54.14, besting his 3:54.8 performance of last weekend.
"I was hoping to get the IC4A qualifying time out of the way, but I'm always happy to get a personal record," Hall said.
Crespo completed the 1,500-meter race in 4:01.43. Freshmen Michael Mittman (4:06.41) and Danny Schuman (4:06.34) and sophomores Shawn Hynes (4:10.10) and Doug Morrin (4:10.32) all set personal records in the event.
Sophomore Pat Neville ran 15:43.73 in the 5,000 meters to set a personal record and freshman Chris Malfant's 15:54.40 finish in the event was the fastest time of his life.
Seniors James Tierney (15:57.93) and Scott Miller (16:00.52) and freshman Brett Marcus (16:01.79) all ran their best 5,000-meter races of the season on Saturday.
Junior Brian Sydow used the excitement of running at home to get off to a fast start in the steeplechase. Sydow finished in eighth place in 9:36.22.
"It was an outstanding weekend for Duke's distance runners as a whole," Ogilvie said.
Senior Gil Winters placed eighth in the javelin for the Blue Devils with his 170-0 throw.
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