Program Records Fall, Top National Marks Set in Final Day of Tobacco Road Challenge

Saturday, April 10

Durham, N.C.

Duke University

Day Two at Tobacco Road Challenge & Combined Events Meeting

Ashleigh Rodriguez_Tobacco Road Challenge_4.10.21

Photo by: Reagan Lunn

Program Records Fall, Top National Marks Set in Final Day of Tobacco Road Challenge

4/10/2021 7:55:00 PM | Track & Field

Results (PDF)

DURHAM, N.C. – Facing a weather adjusted schedule, Duke track & field persevered and delivered a historic showing in the final day of the Tobacco Road Challenge & Combined Events Meet at Morris Williams Stadium on Saturday.

The day started out with an adjusted schedule and sent redshirt senior Ben Beatty to the field to begin the day in the shot put. Beatty delivered a third-place finish with a throw of 16.62 meters, starting the Blue Devils on the right foot.

Action in the heptathlon continued with the 200m, as senior Erin Marsh led the way with a second place showing at 24.42 seconds. The result kept Marsh in first place overall with 3,611 points after the traditional four opening events.

On a day that was planned to include most track events, it was the holdovers from day one that began the circuit, with the men's and women's 1,500m and 5,000m races getting things started on the track. The Blue Devils shined in the 1,500 with 2021 Indoor All-American Leigha Torino running a time of 4:25.17, crushing her previous personal best by 2.11 seconds and taking third in the 16-person field. Not to be outdone, sophomore Rory Cavan turned in a blistering run of 3:43.21, smashing his previous personal best by 4.84 seconds and taking fourth overall.

Simultaneously, field events continued as sophomore Kinsie Huggins delivered the first record book addition of the afternoon. Huggins set a personal best in the shot put, hitting a mark of 14.03m (46-0.5 feet), to take third overall and set the fourth best mark in program history. The Blue Devil women added two more top finishes shortly thereafter, with sophomore Brynn King setting an outdoor PR with a mark of 3.95m (12-11.5 feet) in the pole vault, and sophomore Elasia Campbell earning second in the high jump with a leap of 1.72m (5-7.75 feet).

Senior Ashleigh Rodriguez added her name to the records book with a huge showing in the javelin. Rodriguez took home third place with a throw of 49.61m (162-9 feet), setting a personal best and the fifth-best mark in program history.

As has been the case for the entire outdoor season, the Blue Devils saw huge performances from graduate students Cha'Mia Rothwell and Brittany Aveni. The duo joined fellow graduate student Elena Brown-Soler and sophomore Halle Bieber in the 4x100m relay and did not disappoint, smashing their program record set let weekend at the Virginia Invitational. The quartet beat their previous mark by 0.26 seconds, running it in 44.02 seconds and set a Morris Williams Stadium facility record, beating the time set in 2018 by Duke's Sydnei Murphy, Kethlin Campbell, Domonique Panton and Maddy Price by 0.45 seconds.

Rothwell continued her dominant outdoor season with another first-place finish, this time in the 100m hurdles. The Durham, N.C., native made her hometown debut as a Blue Devil count, running a time of 13.19 seconds. With her two victories today, Rothwell has now won six of the seven events she has competed in as a Blue Devil.

Aveni was next up, looking to make it back-to-back victories and did not disappoint. The Geneva, Ohio native not only won the 400m with a personal best, but also set the program and facility records with a run of 52.23 seconds. Aveni beat the previous program record of 52.30 held by Maddy Price, who set it back in 2018 and the facility record of 52.91 set by Madeline Kopp in 2017. The run is her fourth program record set this season and fifth program record in total, joining the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay.

Joining Aveni in 400m success stories were graduate student Iman Sule and sophomore Carly King. Sule set a personal best, finishing second with a time of 53.25 seconds, which improves on her previous best that ranked third in program history. King added another impressive performance, finishing in third with her own personal best of 54.25 seconds.

The men's 400m proved equally successful, with a clean sweep of the top three finishes. Senior Miles Mingo won the event with a time of 47.26 seconds, setting a personal best and the fourth-best mark in program history. Freshmen Alejandro Rodriguez (48.07 seconds) and Job Trahan (49.30 seconds) took home second and third place, respectively.

Back in the field events, Brown-Soler improved her historic mark from last weekend in the long jump with a personal best and first-place winning jump of 6.10m (20-0.25 feet) to upgrade her fourth best jump in program history. Right behind her was junior Nikki Merritt with a second-place finish, who set a big personal best at 5.99m (19-8 feet), coming just 0.01m from entering the top-five all-time at Duke.

The Blue Devils added several more finishes in the top three spots throughout the afternoon. Bieber (11.76 seconds) and junior Kelcie Simmons (11.78 seconds) came in second and third place respectively in the 100m, with Bieber setting a personal best and finishing 0.01 seconds behind Simmons' fifth-best time in program history back in 2019. Sophomore Joseph Laster took home third place in the 100m with a run of 10.76 seconds.

The 400m hurdles were another clean sweep for the Blue Devils, as senior Lauren Hoffman, Merritt and graduate student Danielle Okonta finished in order. Hoffman's run of 58.17 seconds was a season best, while Merritt (1:01.29) and Okonta (1:01.93) were personal bests. The 200m was even more dominant, as the Blue Devils took home the top five spots, with Brown-Soler setting the fifth fastest mark in program history at 23.74 seconds to set win and set a PR. Simmons, Bieber, freshman Hailey Williams and Sule rounded out the top five, with personal bests coming from Simmons and Bieber.

As the afternoon waned, the heptathlon came to a close. Marsh added a critical third place finish in the long jump at 5.95m to maintain the overall lead, but it was graduate student Zoe Hughes who shined in the event, recording a jump of 6.00m to tie Marsh for the fifth-best result in program history and take second overall. Marsh and Hughes maintained their spots at the top with fifth and sixth-place finishes in the javelin, before entering the final event in the 800m. Marsh turned in a time of 2:24.05 to take fourth overall and finish the event in first place overall with a point total of 5,748. The mark set the second best showing in the country this outdoor season and sets up Marsh with a strong potential qualifying number in advance of the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Hughes came in right behind her with a cumulative point total of 5,541 to finish in second place and record the fourth best mark in the country. Hughes' total also ranks third all-time at Duke, behind only Marsh and Teddi Maslowski. The duo wasn't alone in finding heptathlon success as freshman Brianna Smith delivered a top-15 mark nationally at 5,066 points to finish sixth, while senior Kate Kutzer took home eighth with 4,922 points, finishing strong with a second place showing in the 800m at 2:21.38.

The afternoon concluded with great showings from a few more Blue Devil student-athletes. Facing an opponent who would go on to set the top national mark and break a facility record, freshman Victoria Patterson maintained her composure in her 3000m steeplechase debut, finishing second with a time of 10:33.73. The women's 4x400m relay team also proved very effective, earning first place with a time of 3:43.19.

Sophomore Ezra Mellinger had a terrific day, taking first place in the 200m with a personal best of 21.30 seconds to rank third in Duke history. The Ronks, Pa., native also took home second in the long jump with an outdoor PR of 7.42m (24-4.25 feet) to rank fourth all-time at Duke.

The Blue Devils will head back to the University of Virginia, for the Virginia Challenge from April 16-17. The event is the first of two before returning home one more time for the Duke Twilight on May 3.

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