Wakefield in Second, Marsh in Third After Day One of Heptathlon at Texas Relays

Wednesday, March 23

Austin, Texas

All Day

Duke University

Day One at Texas Relays

Photo by: Matthew Fecteau

Wakefield in Second, Marsh in Third After Day One of Heptathlon at Texas Relays

3/23/2022 10:16:00 PM | Track & Field

Results - Day One (PDF)

AUSTIN, Texas – Competing in their first meet of the spring, senior Isabel Wakefield and graduate student Erin Marsh both got off to great starts in the heptathlon at the Texas Relays, as the pair currently sit in second (3,448 points) and third (3,420 points) place, respectively, through the completion of four events. Teammate and graduate student Zoe Hughes is slotted in 10th with 3,248 points after the first day of competition.

Wakefield got off to a blazing start as she finished atop the field in the opening event – the 100m hurdles. Right out of the gate, the senior clocked a personal-best run of 13.26 seconds which moved her up one spot to No. 3 all-time at Duke. Marsh was close behind, placing third with a 13.69 second finish. Hughes' mark of 14.04 seconds was good for eight among the field.

The next event was the women's high jump, where Hughes and Marsh were the top Blue Devil finishers with a tied for 10th-place finish. Marsh held the slight edge over her classmate as the Buford, Ga., native cleared both of her jumps on the initial attempt – the second one measuring 1.65m (5-5 feet). Hughes was able to clear the same height but needed two attempts to convert. With the finish, the pair added 795 points to their respective totals while Wakefield tallied 759 points after finishing tied for 15th.

Hughes, Marsh and Wakefield each produced strong performances in the shot put as the trio finished right behind each other. Marsh finished fifth among the pack behind her toss of 12.25m (40-2.25 feet) to move back into third. Hughes and Wakefield placed sixth and seventh via throws of 12.04m (39-6 feet) and 11.82m (38-9.50 feet), respectively.

Wakefield capped day one with a bang in the 200m dash, as she breezed to the top time in her heat via a personal best 24.28-second finish. The Barnstaple, Devon, England native's time crushed her previous best by 0.65 seconds and leapfrogged her into the second overall spot after netting 954 points.

Marsh cemented her spot in third with a run of 24.60 seconds, the second fastest in her heat, while Hughes maintained her spot in 10th with a run of 25.79 seconds – just nine points back of ninth place.

Up Next:
Hughes, Marsh and Wakefield resume competition at the Texas Relays Thursday morning with the final three events of the heptathlon – the long jump, javelin throw and 800m run – beginning at 11:30 a.m. CT. Graduate student Lauren Hoffman will also see action at the meet as she gears up for the preliminaries of the 400m hurdles, slated for a 5:30 p.m. CT start.

The Blue Devils will also open competition at the Raleigh Relays Thursday evening as several members of the team get set to take part in the men's 1500m and 5000m, women's 10,000m, men's and women's javelin and women's shot put. Field events begin at 10 a.m., with running events slated for a 4:45 p.m. start.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils cross country and track & field, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeTFXC."

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