Six Duke Men Qualify For The IC4A Championships At The Virginia Tech Challenge

Friday, February 16

Blacksburg, Va.

All Day

Duke University

Day One

Duke?s Stars Show Off Skills On Second Day Of Penn Relays

Six Duke Men Qualify For The IC4A Championships At The Virginia Tech Challenge

2/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field

By: Duke Sports Information

BLACKSBURG, Va. --- Duke Indoor Track and Field competed in the first day of the Virginia Tech Challenge on Friday night. Six Duke men hit marks or times that qualified them for a postseason meet. The Challenge is the last regular season meet for the Blue Devils.

Men's: Junior Jade Ellis qualified for the IC4A championships for the first time this season in the long jump. His mark of 23'-03.50 also placed him eighth at the meet. Ellis holds the second best Duke long jump in history with his 24'-1.5” performance in 2005.

In the pole vault, junior Ian Cassidy not only set a personal best, but moved into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time Duke pole vaults list. Cassidy's vault of 16'-04.75” was the second time he has qualified for the IC4A's this season. Senior Jonathan Fay qualified or the IC4A's for the fourth time this season in the pole vault with his mark of 15'-09.00.”

On the running side, juniors Peter Lewellen and Matt Danforth both hit IC4A qualifying times in the 500 meter dash. Lewellen finished in third place with a time of 1:04.73 and Danforth placed third with his time of 1:04.87. It was Danforth's second qualification this season and Lewellen's first. Lewellen and Danforth are first and third, respectively, on Duke's all-time 500 meter list.

Junior John Brockardt became the first Blue Devil to qualify for the IC4A's in the 1000 meters in Blacksburg. Brockardt ran the event in 2:29.30, bettering his time from earlier this year in the event by over five seconds.

Day Two: Competition will resume Saturday afternoon in Blacksburg and continue throughout the early evening. Duke's team still has 15 more events--- eight for the men and seven for the women--- to compete in.

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