It was the first time in nearly a decade that the sun did not shine for the entire Duke Invitational, but despite the sparse crowds, the weather did little to dampen the women's track and field team's spirit. The Blue Devils managed to break two school records at the meet.
"When it's nice weather like last year, there's a lot more people in the stands," assistant coach Scott Yakola said. "But we were certainly appreciative of the fans that were there because they were very supportive."
The first athlete to set a record was sophomore Stephanie Thomas, who broke teammate Kim Voyticky's old mark in the 800 meters by almost two seconds, running a 2:09.95 to break Voyticky's record of 2:11.87.
"With the weather, I wasn't expecting to run as fast as I did," Thomas said. "When I finished, I was really surprised because I didn't feel I had run that fast. There were definitely people in my heat who helped push me through the final 100 meters."
In the fastest 800-meters heat, Voyticky ran a top-five performance in the event by running a 2:12.17. Junior Colette Gurtler also ran the 800 meters, setting a personal best and top-five time by completing the two-lap race in 2:13.78.
The second record came in the 4x400-meter relay where Thomas, Voyticky, junior Kim Hay and senior Kirsten Johnson ran a record-time of 3:52.81, good for sixth place in the event. The new record was set despite a baton-bobbling between Hay and Johnson.
As Hay was trying to handoff, the baton slipped right through Johnson's hand, costing Duke two seconds-but not the school record.
"The fact that they still ran that fast after dropping the baton means that we can run even faster," Yakola said.
In another relay event, Gurtler, sophomore Kelley Martens, Hay and senior Megan James combined to run the distance medley relay in 11:55.23, the third-fastest time at Duke. The team finished in fourth place overall.
Gurtler started off the race with her 3:36 1,200-meter leg, and Martens followed by running her best time in the 400, a 58.2. Hay then ran a 2:14.4 800-meter leg, and James finished off the relay by running a 5:05 mile.
On the field, sophomore Jeanie Minton was second in the high jump with a jump of 5-4 1/4, and senior Jenny Stadler placed ninth in the javelin with her 118-foot throw. Sophomore Tara Cyre ran two top-five performances in the sprints, recording a 26.44 in the 200, and 12.78 in the 100 meters. Cyre also ran the second leg on the 4x100-meter relay.
In the longer running events, junior Erin Fleming ran a personal best 4:45.99 in the 1,500 meters and sophomore Kim Folk improved by nearly 20 seconds in the 3,000 meters.
Both athletes ran shorter races than their usual 10,000 meters-Folk will return to the 10,000 next weekend at the conference meet, while Fleming will run the 3,000 next weekend before finally running the 10,000 at the Penn Relays. Their races at the Duke Invitational were used as training for their upcoming longer races.
"I'm pleased with how the entire team did," Yakola said. "We look good going into the next few weeks."
Several women outside of the Blue Devil program found the Duke Invitational particularly productive, setting new meet records in their respective events.
In the first event of the meet, Lisa Misipeka of South Carolina set a new record in the hammer throw with a toss of 204-2 feet. Lynda Lipson broke her own record in the javelin with a throw of 182-3, the third time she has won the event at the Duke Invite.
In the triple jump, Trecia Smith of Pittsburgh set a new record with her jump of 44-9, and Amy Erickson of Marquette ran a 34:55.18, breaking the mark in the 10,000-meters by 40 seconds.
Saturday's records included Vida Nsiah's 11.33 in the 100-meter dash. Julie Henner of Reebok ran a fast 2:02.57 in the 800 meters and Rebecca Buchanan, also with Reebok, ran a 57.56 in the 400-meter hurdles. Beth Bunge, competing unattached, set the final meet record in the shot put with her throw of 56-6.75.
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