Duke Splits Up, Heads To Arkansas? Tyson Invitational And UNC?s Carolina Classic

2/7/2007 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. - The Duke Blue Devils Indoor Track Field team will compete in two meets in one weekend for the third time this season. On Friday and Saturday, 14 Blue Devils will make the trip west to the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. 34 Duke competitors will travel to Chapel Hill for the Carolina Classic on Friday.

Women's: Nine women will compete in eight events at the Tyson Invitational throughout the weekend and 13 women will take part in nine events at the Carolina Classic on Friday.

Featured Events: The women's distance medley relay of freshman Kate VanBuskirk, sophomore Michelle Seibert, sophomore Libby Jenke, and senior Shannon Rowbury will compete on Saturday at the Tyson Invitational. The ECAC qualifying time for the DMR is 12:08.64. One Duke women's DMR team that included Jenke already qualified for the ECAC's this season with a time of 11:58.50.

Stars To Watch: Rowbury will run the mile on Friday in Fayetteville. It is Rowbury's first attempt at the indoor mile this season and is an event in which she is the Duke record holder with a time of 4:38.66 in 2005. Rowbury will look to qualify for the ECAC championships with a 5:01.14 mark. The NCAA provisional time for the women's mile is 4:48.00 and the NCAA automatic qualifying time is 4:40.00.

On Saturday afternoon, senior Debra Vento will take her turn in the high jump in the Tyson Invitational. Vento is Duke's record holder in the event with a height of 5'-11.5,” which she achieved in 2005. Her best jump this year was 5'-8.0,” good for an ECAC qualifying mark. The NCAA provisional height for the women's high jump is 5'-10.0.”

Senior Kelly Reynolds goes to Chapel Hill on Friday looking to improve her Duke record weight throw of 55'-2.0,” which she set on Jan. 13 at the UNC Opener. Reynolds already qualified for the ECAC's, with her next postseason goal being the NCAA provisional mark of 62'-4.0.”

Men's: In Fayetteville, Ark., six men will compete in four events for Duke, while in Chapel Hill, N.C., 21 Blue Devil men will go to work in 12 different events.

Featured Events: At the Tyson Invitational on Saturday, the men's 4x400 relay team of sophomore Nick Trombold, junior Peter Lewellen, junior Matt Danforth, and senior Daniel King will look to become the second Duke 4x400 team to qualify for the IC4A championships this season. The qualifying time for the IC4A's is 3:19.90, and a Blue Devil team that included Danforth and King qualified for it at the Virginia Tech Opener on Jan. 13. That team also grabbed the fourth best Duke men's 4x400 relay time of 3:18.05 with that performance.

The men's pole vault on Friday at the Carolina Classic will feature senior Jonathan Fay and junior Ian Cassidy. Both vaulters qualified for the IC4A's earlier this season, and are tied for fourth on the Duke pole vault records' list with 16'-00.75” marks. They will look to improve upon that height and vault closer to the NCAA provisional qualifier of 17'-00.75.”

Stars To Watch: King already holds the Duke record in the 400 meters with his 47.61 run in the Terrier Classic on Jan. 27. He will attempt to better that mark on Friday afternoon in Fayetteville. King has already qualified for the IC4A's in the 400, and will look ahead to the NCAA provisional time of 47.25.

Junior Chris Spooner will compete in the mile for the first time this season on Friday at the Tyson Invitational. No male Duke runner has qualified for the postseason in the mile this year. The IC4A qualifying time for the event is 4:14.40.

A Look Ahead: Next weekend the Blue Devils will travel to Blacksburg, Va. for the two-day Virginia Tech Invitational in their final tune-up before the ACC Championships. Duke will not host a meet until the outdoor season, when there will be two in Durham. The Duke Invitational is Apr. 6-7 and the Duke Twilight is May 6, and both will be held at Wallace Wade Stadium.

-d-u-k-e-