Duke Set for Virginia Tech Invitational

Friday, January 14

Blacksburg, Va.

All Day

Duke University

Day One at Virginia Tech Invitational

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Set for Virginia Tech Invitational

1/13/2022 5:15:00 PM | Track & Field

Virginia Tech Invitational Event Schedule Meet Results

DURHAM – The Duke track and field program heads to Blacksburg, Va., for its first meet of the new year, as the Blue Devils get set to compete in the Virginia Tech Invitational, Jan. 14-15.

Duke opened its 2021-22 season last month at the JDL College Kick-off Dec. 4-5 and delivered a strong performance. The men's and women's teams combined for eight first place finishes and a dozen top five all-time Duke marks.

WHAT TO WATCH

The Duke men and women will take part in 18 events – six field and 12 track.
11 Blue Devils will make their season debuts tomorrow, while four also compete for the first time in a Duke uniform – Hailey Williams, Halle Bieber, Naima Turbes, Alex Schwedt, Donovan Spearman, Danny Collins, Cole Rowan, Carter Dillon, Beck Wittstadt, Drake Anzano and Jack Kovach.
Duke will compete among a field that includes Virginia Tech, North Carolina, NC State, Syracuse, Virginia, Tennessee, Army, UNC Charlotte, High Point and VCU.

FIELD EVENTS

Junior Carly King kicks off the weekend for Duke, beginning with the women's triple jump at 5 p.m.
King delivered an impressive performance in her first collegiate appearance in the triple jump, earning a top-five finish at 11.27m (36-11.75 feet), good for fifth in Duke history.
On the men's side, freshman Mike Herzog will take part in the triple jump while sophomores Moorea Mitchell and Jamila Otieno compete in the women's weight throw. Both events are slated for 7 p.m.
In his Duke debut, Herzog placed third in the triple jump with 14.41m (47-3.5 feet), the third-best mark in program history.
Mitchell also improved her mark in the record book and moved into third on Duke's all-time list in the weight throw. She took first in the weight throw with a PR of 17.46m (57-3.5 feet).
Freshman Michael Bennett and sophomore Gage Knight will compete in the men's unseeded pole vault at 7:30 p.m., and the shot put on Saturday at 12 p.m.
Saturday opens at 11 a.m. with the women's seeded pole vault and women's high jump. Junior Brynn King will represent the Blue Devils in the pole vault, while juniors Elasia Campbell, Hannah Kelly and Lara Kohlenbach, along with senior Isabel Wakefield, take part in the high jump.
Campbell established a new JDL meet record in the high jump with a height of 1.76m (5'-9.25"), besting the previous mark of 1.75m set by Nakita Grey (NC A&T) in 2013.
The women's long jump also starts at 11 a.m., and will feature the quartet of freshman Abby Geiser, graduate student Erin Marsh, senior Nikki Merritt, and sophomore Brianna Smith.
The men's high jump and men's pole vault are both slated for a 1:30 p.m. start. Juniors Beau Allen and Davis Howell and sophomore Danny Collins will take part in the high jump, while graduate student Michael Fairbanks and senior Cole Rowan compete in the pole vault.
Allen is coming off a first-place finish at the JDL College Kick-off and reached a height of 2.12m (6-11.5 feet), matching his No. 4 all-time high jump mark set at the 2020 Tiger Paw Invitational.
Fairbanks' 5.15m (16-10.75 feet) mark moved him into a four-way tie for fourth in the pole vault on the Duke list.
Duke wraps up the weekend's field events with the men's long jump at 1:30 p.m. and women's shot put at 2 p.m.
The quartet of Bennett, Herzog, Knight and junior Ezra Mellinger will headline the long jump. Junior Kinsie Huggins, Kohlenbach, Marsh, Smith and Wakefield will represent the Blue Devils in the shot put.
Mellinger took second in the long jump at the JDL with a 7.11m (23-4 feet) mark.
Huggins improved her No. 5 shot put mark in the record book after recording 13.74m (45-1 feet) to finish fourth among the field.

TRACK EVENTS

The slate of track events commences at 5:40 p.m. with the trio of seniors Rylee Bowen and Virginia Capehart, and junior Naima Turbes in the 1000m.
Bowen took first and recorded a time of 3:06.13 in the 1000m race at the JDL.
Graduate student Drake Anzano and freshman Beck Wittstadt will compete in the 1000m on the men's side.
Kohlenbach, Marsh, Smith, freshman Chyler Turner and Wakefield will represent Duke in the 6:05 p.m. women's 60m hurdles qualifier; Bennett, Knight and freshman Bri'Yon Watts are featured in the men's 60m hurdles qualifier at 6:20 p.m.
Wakefield moved into third all-time on the Duke 60m hurdles list after clocking a PR of 8.42 seconds to place second.
In her Duke debut, Turner earned third with an 8.45 finish, which checked in at fifth on Duke's all-time list. Marsh finished in 8.58 to place fourth.
Junior Halle Bieber, Geiser, Provencal, senior Kelcie Simmons and sophomore Hailey Williams will hit the track for the 60m dash qualifier at 6:30 p.m.
The men's qualifier will begin at 6:40 p.m. and features graduate students Mohammad Almarhoun and Donovan Spearman, junior Joseph Laster and Mellinger.
Mellinger moved into second all-time at Duke and set a new personal best in the 60m dash at 6.82 seconds to take second place. His mark was the best 60m time by a Blue Devil since 1992.
Anzano and sophomores Carter Dillon and Jack Kovach compete in the mile run at 7:05 p.m.
Graduate student Lauren Hoffman, freshman Megan McGinnis and senior Nikki Merritt will run in the women's 500m run (8:05 p.m.), while graduate students Miles Mingo and Alex Schwedt, sophomore Alejandro Rodriguez and Watts will compete in the men's 500m (8:10 p.m.)
Friday evening wraps up with the women's and men's 300m runs at 8:25 and 8:35 p.m., respectively.
Bieber, junior Jenna Crean, Geiser, C. King, Simmons, Turner and Williams will represent Duke on the women's side while Mellinger, Spearman and sophomore Job Trahan will be featured for the men.
Saturday opens with the men's 400m run at 1:10 p.m. featuring Mingo, Rodriguez and Trahan.
Shortly afterwards, Dillon, Watts, Anzano and Kovach take part in the DMR at 1:40 p.m.
The schedule of events ramps up in the afternoon with the women's (1:55 p.m.) and men's (2:05 p.m.) 800m run.
Bowen, Capehart, McGinnis and Turner are set to compete on the women's side while Wittstadt will be the lone competitor for the men.
The women's and men's 200m dash begins at 2:15 p.m. and 2:25 p.m., respectively. Crean, Hoffman, Provencal and Simmons will represent the Duke women, with Laster and Schwedt going headline the men's event.
The women's 4x400m relay begins at 3:20 p.m. and features two entries – C. King, Merritt, McGinnis and Turner on Relay A, with Geiser, Crean, Hoffman and Williams on Relay B.
Crean and Hoffman were a part of the relay team that finished first and set a new JDL College Kick-off meet record of 3:49.07, breaking the eight-year-old record held by Coastal Carolina.
Trahan, Mingo, Rodriguez, Schwedt and Watts comprise the men's team.

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