Duke Still Armory Champions

Friday, February 4

New York, N.Y.

All Day

Duke University

Day One at Armory Collegiate

Duke Still Armory Champions

2/4/2011 11:29:00 PM | Track & Field

By: Duke Sports Information

NEW YORK, N.Y.- The historically distance dominant Blue Devils continues to expand their success without sacrificing their base.

Day one of the Armory Collegiate Invitational saw school and person records fall, championship runs, and strong performances from young freshmen on the track and in the field.

Highlighting the day was the men's DMR. After a victory at last year's meet, the team looked to defend its title. However they went in missing three of its four runners from last year's squad. Freshmen Domenick DeMatteo and Ben Raskin, and senior Josh Lund stepped in while sophomore Curtis Beach reprised his role on the 800 meter leg of the race. A rough first exchange between DeMatteo's 3:00.3 1,200 meter leg and Raskin's 49.5 second 400 put the Devils in seventh place when Beach took over and ran a 1:49.5 800 meters. Slowly advancing, Beach handed off to Lund in third place. Patience during his 4:06.9 1,600m run allowed Lund to attack on the bell lap and cross the finish line victorious.

"I just wanted to sit on the leaders and wait for a chance to make my move, and then make it," said Lund. "It's awesome coming back here and winning again. This means a lot to us."

Another highlight of the meet was freshman Michael Krone clearing 7'0.25" in the high jump. With this clearance, he becomes only the second Blue Devil to clear 7', along with freshman teammate Tanner Anderson, who will compete tomorrow morning in the championship high jump. Duke is now one of four schools in the nation to have two jumpers over 7' and the only institution to have both jumpers as freshmen.

Additionally in the field, junior Michael Barbas came out with a monster personal record of 57'2". The throw was good for sixth place in the championship competition and is mere three quarters of an inch away from the second all-time Duke mark.

Senior Bo Waggoner wasn't able to defend his 5,000m championship, but a five second improvement from his winning time last year highlights how competitive this meet truly is. His 14:10.5 was good for an all-time Duke record and third place at the meet.

Senior, and 800 meter school record holder, Sean-Pat Oswald stepped outside of his specialty and captured third place in the championship 1,000m race. His time of 2:24.17 was good for number two all-time at Duke.

In the sprints, showing signs of progress, Matt Pridemore broke into the record books with a 22.47 run in the men's 200. The wide receiver turned sprinter was questionable for this meet after having to pull out of last week's 60m finals with a tweaked hamstring.

The women came strong as well. Junior Esther Vermeer ran a 2:48.77 in the 1,000 to take second place in the championship division. Her time locks her in as the fourth fastest runner in Duke history.

The women's DMR closed out the meet and smashed the school record on their way to a 3^rd place finish. Freshman Rebecca Craigie, senior Devotia Moore, junior Cydney Ross and senior and collegiate record holder Kate Van Buskirk ran an 11:06.85. Their time bested that of a unit that included Olympian Shannon Rowbury and All-American Sally Meyerhoff.

Day two continues tomorrow with live streaming still available at ny.milesplit.com.