The men's and women's track and field teams have shown their depth in the running events with successful cross country and indoor seasons.
This weekend, they demonstrated their strength in the field events at the Wake Forest Open in Winston-Salem.
The throwers and jumpers set two school records and had seven individuals qualify for the postseason in the first meet of the outdoor season.
Daina Pucurs won the javelin and broke her own school record at the same facility where she won the 2006 ACC Championships. Her throw of 168 feet, 11 inches was nearly 20 feet better than the effort of runner-up Vanessa Roelefson of Buffalo, who beat Pucurs at the NCAA East Regional last year.
"We're really happy," head coach Norm Ogilvie said. "We think Daina can defend her ACC title and also can be a strong favorite for the NCAA East regional and can score for Duke at the national level."
With the first throw of her Duke career, freshman Alexa Revord beat the former school record in the discus by more than 10 feet. She went on to finish fourth in both the discus and the shotput.
Debra Vento made a mark this weekend as well, establishing a new meet and facility record in winning the high jump with a leap of 5-11.25.
On the men's side, freshman John Austin had the most surprising performance of the weekend by securing a third-place finish in the javelin. His throw of 207-8 was 15 feet better than his previous best and also qualified him for the NCAA regional meet.
Next weekend the teams will split up. Some athletes will travel to the Stanford Invitational in Stanford, Calif. while others will remain closer to home and compete at the UNC Invitational in Chapel Hill.
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