Although the indoor season is coming to a close, the Duke men's and women's track and field teams have only just begun to fulfill their potential.
After a successful showing at the Virginia Tech Invitational Friday and Saturday, Duke track is ready to tackle the upcoming ACC Championships. Although several key athletes were rested this weekend, many were given what men's coach Norm Ogilvie calls "a final tune-up prior to the ACC indoor championship meet."
On the women's side, pole vaulter Jillian Schwartz continued her streak of excellence, once again breaking her own school record. Schwartz cracked the 13-foot barrier for the first time this season, delivering an NCAA provisional qualifying vault of 13-1.
Head women's coach Jan Samuelson-Ogilvie commended Schwartz's vault and cited her as one of the top pole vaulters in the country.
Following in Schwartz's footsteps is Christie Howard, who shined this weekend with a personal-best vault of 10 feet, one foot higher than her previous performance.
Also noteworthy for the women were triple jumper Jodi Schlesinger and middle-distance runner Allison Hoffman. Schlesinger qualified for the ECAC championship meet with a school-record-breaking jump of 38-11 3/4, six inches longer than her personal best. Hoffman took second in the 1000-meter run, the highest-placing Duke runner in the meet.
For the men, junior Sean Kelly opened his indoor season with a personal best in the 3000-meter run. His time of 8:26.52 was the fourth best in Duke history and enough to qualify him to run in the IC4A championship meet.
Seth Benson, one of four pole vaulters, also stood out for Duke with a personal best of 15-6.
While the Virginia Tech Invitational was a good showing for several athletes, the real test will come this weekend at the ACC Championships.
Samuelson-Ogilvie is confident in her team's talent, but due to some sickness on the squad, she would not predict what will happen this weekend.
"The ACC is a strong conference and we could potentially perform very well and still end up on the bottom end," she said. "However, for the first time, I think we have the ability to score in almost every area."
Samuelson-Ogilvie expects strong performances by both Megan Sullivan and Katie Atlas, who have already shattered school records in distance events this winter.
Sophomore powerhouse Sheela Agrawal will be opening her season this weekend. Agrawal is coming off a successful but exhausting cross country season and has withheld from racing the past two months to be fully prepared for her outdoor season. Agrawal ran the anchor for the winning distance medley team at last year's conference championship meet. Although Agrawal will not be a part of the distance medley this year, Samuelson-Ogilvie believes the team will still be strong.
On the field, in addition to mentioning Schwartz, the women's coach also singled out thrower Kim Hanauer and freshman long jumper Ife Anoliefo as potential contributors. Hanauer has thrown personal bests in the shotput every week.
Due to the persisting illness on the men's team, Ogilvie is not quite as optimistic. However, he believes that Kelley and Benson have excellent chances to place.
"It's going to be a struggle," he said. "But we have had great results from the younger athletes and have a lot to look forward to down the road."
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