The Blue Devil field squad posted season bests in several events while the majority of Duke's runners rested up for this weekend's ACC Championships in Winston-Salem. The field events for the ACC Championships will begin Thursday, and the bulk of the meet will take place Friday and Saturday.
"We rested the runners this weekend," head coach Norm Ogilvie said. "We'll turn them loose at the Championships and see what they can do."
Sophomore Lara Jones tied her career best pole vault of 12-5.5 for a NCAA Regional qualifier mark at the Tennessee Sea Ray Relays. The men's pole vaulters had season best vaults with sophomore Ian Cassidy and junior Jonathan Fay both jumping an IC4A qualifying height of 16-0.75.
The Blue Devil women's throwing squad continued its record-breaking season with freshman Jessica Tanner breaking Duke's discus throw by nearly five feet. Her mark of 141-4 qualified her for the ECACs. Tanner becomes the third Blue Devil on the women's throwing squad to break a school record this year.
"I project us having the most points in field since I got here in 1991," Ogilvie said. "It's been a very good year for the girl's team, and we have two of the top five men's javelin throwers in Duke's history."
Part of the track team also competed at the Carolina Fast Times over the weekend, placing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Senior Liz Wort, who is redshirting the outdoor season and ran unnattached, won the event with a time of 10:31.17. Freshman Maddie McKeever came in second and her time of 10:56.37 was good enough for second in Duke's history. Graduate student Kelly Fillnow took fourth while freshman Patricia Loughlin came in seventh.
Both Wort and senior teammate Shannon Rowbury are redshirting the spring season to concentrate on the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in June. Wort will compete in the steeplechase, and Rowbury qualified for both the 1,500 and 5,000-meter races.
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