Suited with a talented roster of runners, the men's track team hopes to make its mark this year and take its play all the way to the NCAA Tournament.
The Blue Devils begin their quest for May's NCAAs Feb. 8 at the Valentine's Classic in Boston, Mass.
"I'm very impressed with our guys and their display at meets," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said. "Competition should be good; our team is better rounded now than it has been in the last decade.... I am especially pleased at our distance medley relay and I think that they could be a real force."
The distance medley relay consists of a lead-off leg of 1,200-meters that is followed by a 400-meter leg and an 800-meter leg and, finally, a mile run.
For the 1,200-meter race, freshman Brian McCulley could be a highly competitive force. McCulley, who was North Dakota's state champion as a high school senior in both the 800-meter and 1,600-meter races, is still looking strong. Running the 1,200-meter race for the first time at the USAir Invitational in Knoxville, Tenn., McCulley ran finished in 3:04.9-possibly securing the lead-off leg.
"I felt comfortable leading off even though I basically didn't know how to run it," McCulley said. "I guess I was just glad that I didn't feel tired and got [the team] the lead for the first hand off."
Freshman Matt Diglio looks strong for the 400-meter leg and could prove to be quite an asset. One of Diglio's assets includes a sixth-place finish in the 800-meter race at last year's National Scholastic Championships.
Another fierce competitor for the 400-meter leg is freshman Lamar Grant, who, despite limited practice time due to football training, has been outstanding.
The 800-meter leg will be completed by sophomore Jesse Allen. Allen, who ran an impressive 1:51.9 a few weeks ago and is also an esteemed 400-meter and 500-meter hurdler, will try to maintain this level of play.
Allen's impressive resume includes taking fifth place last year in both the ACC and the IC4A competitions. This is especially impressive considering the fact that the ACC is considered the top hurdle conference in the country. Additionally, Allen missed qualifying last year for the NCAA Tournament by the narrowest of margins, as he was 25 in the provisionals.
The NCAA has a limited number of spots filled by those going through automatic or provisional times. Because enough people had qualified through the automatic times, Allen was prevented from competing.
Junior Jeremy Walker has proven to be another strong 800-meter competitor. Emerging as a steady relay performer, Walker has notched numerous points for the Blue Devils during his tenure at Duke.
Finishing up the relay will most likely be junior Mike Park. Park, constantly showing superb effort in his races, has been finishing races strongly and making other teams go out hard.
In addition, Park has been able to add his valuable experience from competing in various big meets. In 1995, Park was part of the nationally ranked 4x800-meter relay team that finished with a school-record time of 7:31.
In every aspect, the distance medley relay is looking very powerful. Much of this is due to the depth added by the freshmen.
"I'm very impressed with the guys and I really feel that we got the top middle distance recruiting class," Ogilvie said. "I've been combining these freshman with some upperclassmen and it's been working out well."
Other freshmen who have excelled include James Vasak and Kyle Leonard.
"Although James had been out with an injury he'll come back strong and be a real help," Ogilvie said. "And Kyle has been doing real well. He had a nice half [mile race] at Lehigh."
Strong long-distance runners include sophomore Tom Becker and freshman Charlie Kelly. Becker, a leading cross-country contender, seeks to establish himself against other ACC runners by qualifying for the IC4A Championship.
"I'm looking forward to Virginia Tech and I think I'll do okay," Becker said. "It's been hard with new classes and getting out of this broken-down phase. But that's what I have to do. I'm building up my broken muscles."
In the hurdle events, senior Mark Blakemore and junior Rob West are predicted to be strong.
West, a two-time qualifier in the IC4A who holds the record for scoring the highest number of points in the ACC, will also be competing in the decathlon.
And in the pentathlon, freshman Pat Ratz has unlimited potential. "Pat Ratz is a kind-of Rob West understudy," Ogilvie said. "He has been doing fairly well. He almost has to learn the decathlon, but I think that he shows amazing promise."
Field athletes to look for are freshman Andrew Mutschler in the high jump, freshman Eric Clark in the pole vault and senior Rob Bethea in the shot put.
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