Throwers Defend Home Turf

Friday, April 8

Durham, N.C.

All Day

Duke University

Day One at Duke Invitational

Duke Gears up for Second Meet of the Season

4/8/2011 10:51:00 PM | Track & Field

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.- Blue Devil throwers continue to set the pace as the men's and women's track and field team had a successful first day of the Duke Invitational.

At noon the men's shot put and women's javelin kicked off the Duke invitational with a pair of one-two finishes. Andrea Hopkins was the first athlete to be crowned Duke Invite Champion in the women's Javelin throw. Her toss of 150'4.25" was followed up closely by Shannon Sullivan's 141'10.25".

The men's shot put started off with a bang when fifth year senior Mike Schallmo's first toss easily eclipsed the 59' barrier. Unfortunately, unable to control his momentum, Schallmo's throw was marked foul when he briefly stepped out of the front of the ring. He battled back with a fifth round throw of 57'7.5". Not to be left behind, teammate Michael Barbas stepped into the ring on his final attempt and put out a 58'3.25" effort, winning the event. Both young men set personal bests in the event and moved themselves to second and third in the all-time Duke record book.

Following up the men's success in the shot, Michelle Anumba took the lead in the women's shot put and never looked back. Her first round mark of 51'8.5" would have been good enough for the victory, but she chose to add a few more inches with a 51'11.25" fourth round effort.

Closing out the successful day for the throwers, John Austin saw his first action of the outdoor season and was the top collegiate finisher in the men's javelin. His opening throw of 225'4" kept him in first place until unattached athlete Colin Moleton edged Austin with a 228'3" throw in the third round.

Heading to the track, junior Sophia Treakle ran her way into the record books with a 1:01.82 400m hurdle race. Her time is the fourth fastest mark ever by a Duke athlete and netted her a fourth place finish at the meet.

The women's 1,500m saw two sponsored runners and a former All-American barely edged out sophomore Juliet Bottorff. Bottorff's time of 4:25.72 was less than a second behind the leader and was the top time run by a collegian. Freshman Rebecca Craigie followed closely behind with a sixth place finish and a time of 4:28.60.

The men's 1,500m had Stephen Clark and Domenick DeMatteo finish second and third. Clark ran a 3:48.06 with DeMatteo close behind with a 3:49 even. NCAA qualifier Cory Nanni also got into the action for an eighth place finish of 3:51.53.

Continuing to move up in distance, indoor school record holder Josh Lund went up against NCAA indoor champion Leonard Korir of Iona in the men's 5,000m. Lund was able to keep it close but fell to Korir and finished the race in 14:01.65. Running with Lund were Andrew Brodeur and Bo Waggoner who finished fourth and fifth with times of 14:13.53 and 14:15.14 respectively.

Day two continues tomorrow with live stream available at goduke.com which will include what should be an exciting 800m race between NCAA runner up Kate Van Buskirk of Duke and former All-American Laura Januszewski

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