Three Blue Devils Secure Bids to Nationals Friday

Friday, May 27

Jacksonville, Fla.

All Day

Duke University

Day Two at NCAA East Preliminary Round

Three Blue Devils Secure Bids to Nationals Friday

5/27/2016 10:16:00 PM | Track & Field

Meet Results

By: Duke Sports Information

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Duke track & field program had another successful day in Jacksonville, Fla., at the NCAA East Preliminary Round Friday, advancing three Blue Devils to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., next month. The three qualifiers push Duke's total to five so far, with others looking to qualify Saturday.

Senior Anima Banks punched her ticket to Eugene in the women's 800 with a dominant display, clocking the fastest time among the field with a 2:02.49. That time ranks as the second-fastest time in Duke history, trailing Cydney Ross' record by only 0.01 seconds. The middle-distance runner out of Mamaroneck, N.Y., is enjoying arguably the greatest stretch of her career, highlighted by capturing silver medals in both the 800 and 1,500 at the ACC Outdoor Championships earlier this month, and plans to carry that into nationals.

“I think there's a lot to momentum during a season,” Banks said. “Running that many races [at ACCs] and PR'ing by that much, I felt ready to roll, and that's a great feeling heading into a meet like regionals. I knew it was going to take a really fast time to get [to nationals] and I definitely didn't want to mess around … Positive momentum is a huge thing, and I'm feeling ready to roll over the next couple weeks.”

Joining Banks in qualifying for nationals Friday was the women's pole vault duo of senior Megan Clark and sophomore Madison Heath. Both Clark and Heath cleared 13-11.25 (4.25m) to finish among the top 12 and earn their tickets to Eugene. The trip to nationals will serve as a return trip for the pair as both Clark and Heath qualified in 2015. Heath shared what it meant to be heading back and has her aim set high.

“It's great to be heading back to Eugene this year,” Clark said. “We went last year and had some difficulties, but it will be really nice to go back and do things differently.”

“I'm really excited to be heading back to nationals,” Heath added. “It was definitely close, but it was a lot of fun … I'd like to place top 16 and be an All-American and hopefully get a qualifying mark for the Olympic Trials. Those are my goals.”

With a trip to nationals already secured in the heptathlon, redshirt senior Teddi Maslowski used a season-best time of 13.54 in the women's 100-meter hurdles to snag the last qualifying spot for Saturday's quarterfinals. Sophomore Maddy Price, who ran a personal-best time of 52.88 Thursday in the prelims of the women's 400 to advance to today's quarterfinals, finished 23^rd overall with a time of 53.75. Maslowski and Price will join junior Madeline Kopp and freshman MacKenzie Kerr in tomorrow's women's 4x400, with Duke seeded 13^th heading into the race.

Capping the track events for the Blue Devils, senior Olivia Anderson finished 31^st overall in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, clocking a 10:31.91.

In the men's javelin, redshirt senior Thomas Lang's bid for a third straight appearance at the national meet, along with a third consecutive All-America honor, came up short as the two-time ACC Champion finished 16^th in the competition with a throw of 214-1 (65.27m).

Rounding out the field events, senior Madeline Morrow, coming off a silver medal at the ACC Championships in the women's high jump, finished tied for 36^th after clearing 5-5.25 (1.66m). Junior Amarie Bremel took 40^th in the women's discus, sending the implement a distance of 150-2 (45.78m).

Duke will return to Hodges Stadium for the third and final day of the NCAA East Preliminary Round Saturday, beginning at 3 p.m. with field events and 6 p.m. with track events.

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