Lehman, Ellis Highlight Second Strong Day At The Armory

Saturday, February 7

New York, N.Y.

All Day

Duke University

Day Two

Matulewicz, Ellis Secure Wins On Second Day Of Open

Lehman, Ellis Highlight Second Strong Day At The Armory

2/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field

By: Duke Sports Information

NEW YORK ? After a strong first day of competition yesterday, the Duke men's and women's track & field teams picked up where they left off with another banner outing on day two of the 2009 New Balance Armory Collegiate Invitational in New York City.

The Blue Devils saw an NCAA Provisional qualifier ? their second of the weekend ? on the women's side, as well as nine more IC4A/ECAC qualifying marks in a meet that include over 100 college teams from around the country.

“Once again, for the third meet in a row, Duke hit on all cylinders,” said Director of Track & Field Norm Ogilvie. “We're pleased with how the indoor season is going ? everyone is looking really good. Now we'll train for two weeks before the Virginia Tech meet, which will be a preview of the ACC Championships the following week at the same site.”

The Duke women turned in a good day all around, with the NCAA Provisional qualifier coming in the championship mile run by Molly Lehman. The senior set the NCAA mark for the second meet in a row, though this time her 4:42.44 was a five-second personal best. It was also another ECAC qualifier as she took fifth overall in the stacked field. The time moved her into second all-time at Duke indoors, behind only Olympian Shannon Rowbury.

In the women's college mile, Duke saw another two ECAC marks as Patricia Loughlin (4:54.50) and Mary Carleton Johnston (5:00.90) were third and 11th, respectively.

On the men's side, Jade Ellis was just eight centimeters shy of an NCAA Provisional standard in the triple jump ? his first attempt at the event since 2007. His leap of 50-3.5 was good for an IC4A mark, however, as he has now qualified in both horizontal jumps (long jump) for the postseason.

In the men's 5000-meter championship race, Bo Waggoner turned in a personal-best third-place finish of 14:21.76, followed by Andrew Brodeur's 14:35.67 and James Osborne's 14:39.34. All three were IC4A marks, and it was the first such accomplishment for Brodeur and Osborne in their careers.

The men's 4x400 won the section 1 race in an IC4A mark of 3:18.64. The team of Sam Bowler (50.0), Caleb Duncanson (49.4), Mario Moreno (50.6), and Tyler Clarke (48.5) was fourth overall in the college division.

The men's 4x800 meter relay closed out the weekend for the Blue Devils, with the team of Brendon Pierson (1:57.4), Stephen Clark (1:54.6), Cory Nanni (1:52.8), and Ryan McDermott (1:54.3) taking fourth in 7:39.44 to qualify for IC4A's. Duke has now qualified all three relays for the postseason on both the men's and women's side.

Next up for the Blue Devils will be the Virginia Tech Challenge Feb. 20-21 in Blacksburg, Va.

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