Duke Opens Outdoor Season at Wake Forest

3/22/2018 5:09:00 PM | Track & Field

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke track and field team begins its outdoor campaign this Saturday when the Blue Devils travel to Winston-Salem for the Outdoor Opener hosted by Wake Forest.

Duke will be one of six teams competing at Wake Forest on Saturday. The Blue Devils will be joined by Davidson, Harvard, High Point, NC State and Wake Forest.

“What's exciting is there are several events held outdoors that aren't held indoors,” said director of track and field Norm Ogilvie. “So I'm sure the excitement level is highest for the throwers because we get to see the javelin and the first shot at the discus and hammer throw. There's also the intermediate hurdles, which is an outdoor event. So we're anxious to see those athletes at those new events. The meet itself, it's a season opener so it's almost a rust buster. We've been training extremely hard since end of indoors so we'll go into the meet fairly tired. We're excited to get the season underway.”

The meet will begin with the hammer throw. Stefani Vukajlovic and Iyin Battle will step into the circle after competing in the weight throw during the indoor season. Vukajlovic holds the Duke record as well as the Bosnian and Herzegovinian record after tossing the hammer 195-7 (59.63) at the 2017 Duke Invitational. Battle is fourth all-time at Duke with a career-best throw of 179-11 (54.84).

Duke will have five competitors in the long jump. Sydnei Murphy is the school record holder in the event, leaping 21-0.50 (6.41) while Jaida Lemmons has the third-best leap after clearing 19-7.50 (5.98) after adjusting for wind. Kethlin Campbell will make her outdoor debut after her season-best jump of 19-9.00 (6.02) was the fourth-furthest indoor jump in Duke history. Erin Marsh will also join Campbell in debuting in the long jump. For the men, JR Smith set a personal-best in 2017 when he cleared 23-7.25 (7.08).

Competing for the first time in 2018 will be the men's javelin. Nicholas Solfanelli returns after winning the 2017 ACC Championship in the event with a throw 212-11 (64.89). Michael Marsack had the fourth-furthest throw in Duke history when he cleared 214-10.00 (65.48) at the Raleigh Relays. Kiegan Lenihan and Travis Closs both will compete after finishing the 2017 by coming in fifth and ninth respectively at last year's ACC Championships.

Coming off the indoor season where all five members qualified for the ACC Championships, the Duke women's pole vault will be looking to continue their dominance. Madison Heath earned first-team All-American honors at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships, adding to her three outdoor All-American honors. She is second all-time at Duke with a personal-best of 14-3.25 (4.35) and is the defending ACC Champion. Laura Marty is fourth all-time at Duke in outdoors, posting a clearance of 13-9.25 (4.20) and earning honorable mention All-American during her freshman season. Chesney Ward and Nati Sheppard both qualified for the NCAA East Regional in 2017 after finishing in third and sixth at the ACC Championships. Rivka Arbiv had a successful indoor season during her freshman campaign, finishing in sixth at the 2018 ACC Indoor Championships.

Also competing in the throwing events on Saturday will be Jack Maher in the shot put and Christian Friis and Jacob Sobota in the discus. Maher has a personal-best of 51-3.50 (15.63) in the shot put while Friis and Sobota will be making their collegiate debut in the discus.

There will be five Blue Devils competing in the high jump. Tracy Jander, Kate Kutzer and Cassie Martin will all compete for the women while Bryant Lewis and Benjamin Ross will get the start for the men. Martin cleared a season-best 5-5.75 (1.67) at the 2017 ACC Outdoor Championships while Jander took first place at the Raleigh Relays with a height of 5-5.00 (1.65). Lewis and Ross will make their Duke outdoor debuts after each competing twice during the indoor season while Kutzer will be competing for the first time at the collegiate level.

Rounding out the field events is Esteban Suarez and Caleb Sanford in the men's pole vault and Domonique Panton in the women's triple jump. Sanford cleared a personal-best 15-11.75 (4.87) at last year's ACC Championships while Suarez racked up seven top-10 finishes during the 2017 season.

Panton is second all-time at Duke in the outdoor triple jump with a leap of 40-11.00 (12.47). Panton is coming off an indoor season where she broke the program record with a mark of 41-8.75 (12.72) and she finished a career-best third at the ACC Championships.

Leading off the day on the track will be the 4x100m relay. Duke will enter a quartet of Maddy Price, Panton, Murphy and Campbell.

In the 100m hurdles for the women, Kutzer, Lemmons and Marsh will take the start for Duke. In the 110m hurdles, Sobota will be the lone entrant for Duke.

Headlining the 400m will be graduate student Steven Solomon. Solomon broke the ACC and Duke indoor 400m records when he ran a time of 45.44 at the ACC Championships. Solomon followed it with a tenth place finish at the NCAA Championships to earn second-team All-American honors. Solomon will be joined by Miles Mingo and Sean Rafique in the men's race. Mingo claimed the fourth-fastest time in Duke's records after running 48.35 during the indoor season. Simi Gbadegesin will compete in the women's 400m.

Price and Murphy will race in the 100m and will be joined by Panton and India Lowe. Price set the Duke record in the event with a time of 11.65 in 2016 and Murphy ran the second-fastest time of 11.70 in 2017. For the men, Tionne Barmer and Smith will comprise Duke's entries. Barmer ran a personal-best 10.73 in 2017.

Brittany Aveni will pull double duty in the 800m and the 200m on Saturday. Aveni, who ran a personal-best 2:06.61 in the 800m in 2017, will be the only Blue Devil in the race. The Geneva, Oh., product will compete with Gbadegesin, Jasmine Hill, and MacKenzie Kerr in the 200m. Kerr raced to a personal-best 24.42 in the 200m last year. For the men, Barmer, Mingo and Austin Nobis will represent Duke.

Chase Peterson will make his 2018 Duke debut in the 400m hurdles. Peterson led Duke with a time of 53.64 in 2017. Lauren Hoffman and Lowe will race in the 400m hurdles for the first time this season.

The lone distance race for the Blue Devils will be the 3,000m. Adamson Bryant, Matt Luppino, Ethan Ready and Michael Ungvarsky will comprise Duke's contingent in the race.

The final event of the day will be the 4x400m relay. The women's team will consist of Gbadegesin, Hoffman, Campbell and Hill while the men will have a quartet of Barmer, Peterson, Nobis and Rafique racing.

Saturday's meet will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning with the women's hammer throw. Live results for the meet can be found here.

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