05/31/2008 - Duke Sports Information

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Duke Track and Field team completed competition at the two-day NCAA East Regional at Mike Long Track on Saturday. The men’s team finished tied for 36th place with six points and the women tied for 38th with four team points.
 
Junior Molly Lehman placed sixth in the 1,500m finals with a time of 4:26.19 on Saturday in Tallahassee. That earned the Duke women three team points and gave Lehman a good chance of making the NCAA Championships on June 11-14 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Junior Patricia Loughlin clocked in at 10:33.57 in the 3,000m steeplechase on Saturday night. Loughlin picked up one point for the Blue Devils by finishing in eighth place and has an outside shot at making the NCAA’s.

The top five finishers in each event automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships from June 11-14 in Des Moines, Iowa. The 6th through 12th place finishers from each event, which include Lehman and Loughlin, are then placed in a pool with 21 student-athletes from the other three regions. From that group, the top seven or eight make the NCAA’s based on season-bests.

In other East Regional action, freshman Ryan McDermott took home 15th place in the 3,000m steeplechase with a clocking of 9:14.34.

A Look Ahead: Redshirt freshman John Austin qualified for the NCAA’s with his third-place finish on Friday in the javelin. Lehman and Loughlin should know their fate by Monday morning after all regional results and season-bests are accounted for.

 

-d-u-k-e-