Duke Opens 2020 Season With Carolina Challenge

Saturday, January 11

Chapel Hill, NC

Duke University

Carolina Challenge

Duke Opens 2020 Season With Carolina Challenge

1/10/2020 8:50:00 AM | Track & Field

CAROLINA CHALLENGE SCHEDULE (PDF)LIVE RESULTS

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke track and field program kicks off the 2020 indoor campaign Saturday, Jan. 11, when it travels down the road to Chapel Hill, N.C., to compete in the Dick Taylor Carolina Challenge at the Eddie Smith Field House.

Hosted by the University of North Carolina, the competition will feature six additional participating teams – Campbell, Duke, East Carolina, Hampton, High Point and UNC Greensboro.

The Duke women's squad will look to repeat its performance from last year's edition, when it earned a first-place team victory, while the men's team finished in second place for the second consecutive year.

The competition will begin with the men's pole vault, with the Blue Devils represented by sophomore Cole Rowan, junior Jacob Sabota and senior Esteban Suarez. Suarez looks to claim his third consecutive first-place finish in Chapel Hill, after clearing 4.90 in 2018 and 4.85 in 2019. The South Pasadena, Calif., native earned All-ACC First Team honors at the ACC Indoor Championship and Second Team honors at the ACC Outdoor Championship last season.

Freshman Kaeli Thompson will get her collegiate career underway in the women's pole vault, joined by senior Chesney Ward. Thompson was an indoor national champion in high school, where she broke a New York Section 9 state record by clearing 13-6.25.

Redshirt-junior Ben Beatty will be Duke's lone competitor in the men's weight throw, followed by freshman Payton Little on the women's side. Beatty will look to improve upon a third-place finish a season ago.

Freshman Ezra Mellinger and sophomore Kyle Foltz will take part in their first competition as a Blue Devil in the men's long jump. Seven student-athletes will compete on the women's side – freshmen Elasia Campbell and Lara Kohlenbach, sophomores Nikki Merritt, Natalie Simmons and Isabel Wakefield, and juniors Kate Kutzer and Erin Marsh. Merritt and Simmons captured third and fourth place, respectively, in last year's event. Both also set a personal record in the long jump last year at the Columbia Challenge (1/24/19), with Merritt reaching a mark of 5.78 and Simmons landing at 5.44.

The Blue Devils will have 12 competing in the high jump, with the freshman trio of Beau Allen, Davis Howell and Keith Williams representing the men. Erin Marsh (third) and Kate Kutzer (seventh) will look to record a top-eight finish again on the women's side following last year's event. They will be joined by junior Rivka Arbiv, freshman Elasia Campbell, senior Tracy Jander, freshman Hannah Kelly, freshman Lara Kohlenbach, senior Cassie Martin and sophomore Isabel Wakefield.

Rounding out the field events will be the shot put, where Ben Beatty and freshman Aidan Felty will compete in the men's event while freshman Kinsie Huggins will be representing the women. Beatty finished in third place last year (16.54) and recorded a personal-best at the Columbia Challenge (16.89) weeks later.

Running events will begin with the 60m hurdles. 12 Blue Devils will enter the preliminary heats, with Foltz, graduate student Connor Atkinson and junior Jacob Sabota competing on the men's side. Representing the women will be Campbell, Kohlenbach, Kutzer, Marsh, Merritt, Wakefield, freshman Halle Bieber, junior Lauren Hoffman and freshman Maya Provencal. Marsh took first place in last year's event with a mark of 8.67q, followed by strong finishes by Hoffman (third), Merritt (fourth) and Kutzer (seventh).

Five members of the men's squad will compete in the 60m dash, with Mellinger, junior Miles Mingo and senior Marquis Waters being joined by freshman Joseph Laster and redshirt-junior Antone Williams, who joined the program earlier this week. Miles came in fifth place with a time of 7.17 in last year's edition.

Senior Brittany Aveni, freshman Carly King, and sophomores Kelcie and Natalie Simmons will compete for the women. Kelcie Simmons placed third last year, clocking in at 7.68, while Natalie Simmons finished sixth (7.82).

Junior Simi Gbadegesin will be Duke's lone competitor in the 400m dash, looking to improve upon a third-place finish from a year ago (59.19).

Competition will continue with the mile, where sophomore Joe Cullen, junior Paul Dellinger, senior Cole Hoff, sophomore Matt Politis, senior Tom Sullivan, freshman Lucas Wiley and senior Matt Wisner will represent the men. Wisner will aim to repeat his first-place finish last year.

In the women's mile, freshman Emily Cole, junior Michaela Reinhart, freshman Samantha Schadler and junior Leigha Torino are set to compete.

Seven Blue Devils will take part in the 800m, started by Wisner (2019 ACC 800m runner up), freshman Theo Burba, redshirt-junior Nico Coleman, sophomore Nick Cox and freshman Luke Spurrier in the men's race. Cox (third), Cullen (fifth) and Coleman (seventh) placed in the top eight last year. Cox enters the season looking to build off of a 2019 indoor campaign that saw him earn All-ACC Second Team at the ACC Indoor Championships.

Sophomores Virginia Capehart and Ellen Hirsberg will compete in the women's 800m. Following that event will be the 200m, where Gbadegesin and Provencal are set to run for Duke.

In the final individual races, freshman Rory Cavan, junior Alex Miley, senior Ethan Ready, freshman Ryan Thompson and freshman Connor Wells will toe the line for the men in the 3,000m, while junior Amanda Beach, senior Lindsay Billings, senior Veronica Brtek, freshman Carolina Howley and junior Sara Platek will race for the women.

Closing out the meet will be the 4x400m relay. The Blue Devils will field a men's and women's team for the event.

Live results for the meet and a full schedule of events are attached.

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