Blue Devils Shine in Raleigh and Finish Strong in Texas

Blue Devils Earn New School Records in Discus Throw

Blue Devils Shine in Raleigh and Finish Strong in Texas

3/30/2012 10:12:00 PM | Track & Field

By: Duke Sports Information

RALEIGH, N.C. - Duke women's throwers stole the show on day one of the Raleigh Relays. Michelle Anumba earns first place in the women's shot put with a season-best mark of 53- 09.00 (16.38) and Erica Brand set a new school record with her second place finish and mark of 166-11 (50.89) in the discus throw on Friday. Brand's performance tops former Blue Devil Alexa Revord's mark from 2007.

“It was a really great day for us.” Director of Track and Field, Norm Ogilvie commented. “The highlights definitely came from the women's throwing events, Mike in the shot put, Tanner and Michael in the high jump and the great performances in the men's 1500 meters.”

Senior thrower Michael Barbas also had an impressive day with a shot put mark of 56-2.5 (17.13) which was good enough for fourth place. Freshman Kyler Shumway also competed in the event for Duke and finished with a mark of 48-6 (14.78).

In the high jump, sophomore Tanner Anderson finished in fourth place with a clearance of 6-10.75 while Michael Krone finished in 8th with a mark of 6-8.75.

The highlight on the track came in the men's 1500 meters where four Blue Devils ran lifetime best times. Domenick DeMatteo led the charge with his fourth place finish in a personal record time of 3:43.91. Freshman Nate McClafferty finished with the next fastest time and personal best of 3:50.52 and Brian Schoepfer was close behind with a time of 3:50.71. Freshman Morgan Pearson crossed the line at 3:55.19 and Brendon Pierson rounded out the group with a personal record time of 3:55.58. DeMatteo, McClafferty and Schoepfer all qualified for IC4As with their performances.

Other notable performances came from, senior Megan Deakins who ran the 5,000 meters in a time of 16:38.26 in her first collegiate race. Sophomore Ashley Berry and Junior Adrianne Soo also ran the same event earlier in the day and completed the distance in 18:06.40 and 18:10.01. In the 1500, sophomore Jessie Rubin crossed the line in 4:40.09 while senior Virginia Hine finished in 4:49.18.

The Duke squad at the Texas Relay's ended its campaign well with Amy Fryt earning a personal record clearance of 13-9.25 which was good enough for second place and the women's 4x400 meter relay quartet of Elizabeth Kerpon, Brittany Whitehead, Lauren Hansson and Cydney Ross running a school record breaking time of 3:41.12.

For Complete Results, check out the attached links.

Duke will continue its weekend competition tomorrow with more throwing events and a few men's relay teams to close out the Raleigh Relays. For a full recap, visit www.GoDuke.com