Blue Devils Return to Blacksburg for Hokie Invitational

Friday, January 22

Blacksburg, Va.

Duke University

Day One at Hokie Invitational

Blue Devils Return to Blacksburg for Hokie Invitational

1/21/2021 7:06:00 PM | Track & Field

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS HEAT SHEETS LIVE RESULTS

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke track & field team looks to replicate early-season success when it travels back to Blacksburg, Va., for the Hokie Invitational this weekend.

Also competing at Rector Field House will be Clemson, Louisville, NC State, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech (host) and Wake Forest, as well as unattached participants. 21 Blue Devils are set to take part in women's events, while 14 men will represent Duke at the meet. Duke is returning to Blacksburg for the second consecutive weekend after competing at the Virginia Tech Invitational last Friday and Saturday.

HEPTATHLON/PENTATHLON

The meet will be kicked off at 10:30 a.m. ET on Friday with the men's heptathlon and women's pentathlon.
Graduate-transfer Harry Lord is set to compete in the heptathlon, which features the 60m dash (10:30 a.m.), long jump (11:15 a.m.), shot put (12:30 p.m.), high jump (2:15 p.m.), 60m hurdles (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), pole vault (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.) and 1000m (Saturday, 1:30 p.m.)
Lord has appeared in both meets for the Blue Devils this indoor season. At the Orange and Purple Elite Meet on Jan. 9, he finished third overall in the men's 60m hurdles with a time of 9.07.
He placed seventh in the pole vault last weekend at Virginia Tech with a mark of 4.00m (13-1.5 feet).
The pentathlon will feature four Duke women – seniors Kate Kutzer and Erin Marsh, sophomore Elasia Campbell and freshman Brianna Smith.
Marsh will compete in her first pentathlon since winning gold in the event at the ACC Indoor Championships in February 2020. Her 4,186-point total at Notre Dame ranks second all-time at Duke.
Kutzer placed 12th in the pentathlon at last year's ACCs with a total of 2,985 points. Her best performance came in the long jump, where she placed third with a mark of 5.66m (18-7.0 feet).

FIELD EVENTS

Friday's field events will commence at 5 p.m. ET, when freshman Brynn King looks to continue her impressive start to the season in the women's pole vault.
King took first place in her collegiate debut at the Orange and Purple Elite Meet, and set a new PR at the Virginia Tech Invitational (4.22m) to take fourth overall last weekend.
Sophomore Carly King will compete in her first collegiate triple jump at 5 p.m. She has been one of Duke's top sprinters to start the season, setting PRs in the 60m, 200m and 300m during the first two meets – all of which earned her a top-five finish in the event.
Another 5 p.m. event is the men's weight throw, which features school record-holder Ben Beatty. The redshirt-senior placed seventh in the event last weekend in Blacksburg.
Sophomore Keith Williams will make his season debut when he lines up for the men's triple jump at 7 p.m. His last outing was at the 2020 ACC Indoor Championships, where he placed 12th in the high jump with a clearance of 1.91m (6-3.25 feet).
Saturday's field slate kicks off at noon ET with sophomore Ezra Mellinger taking part in the men's long jump.
Mellinger set a new PR to place first in the long jump at Clemson two weeks ago. His mark of 7.27m (23-10.25) ranks fourth in Duke indoor history and earned him ACC Co-Men's Field Performer of the Week honors.
Senior Rivka Arbiv and sophomore Hannah Kelly will make their season debuts in the women's high jump at noon.
At 1 p.m., Beatty and sophomore Aiden Felty will aim to build on last week's results in the men's shot put. Beatty placed third at the Virginia Tech Invitational while Felty took seventh.
Junior Nikki Merritt will be Duke's lone competitor in the women's long jump at 2:30 p.m. Merritt placed fifth with a jump of 5.77m (18-11.25 feet) last week in Blacksburg.
Williams and Beau Allen will take part in the men's high jump, which is also at 2:30 p.m. Allen has put together a pair of top-five results in the season's first two meets, as he placed second at the Orange and Purple Elite Meet (2.05m) and fourth at the Virginia Tech Invitational (2.02m). He currently holds the fourth-highest jump in program history at 2.12m, which he recorded last season.

TRACK EVENTS

Duke's weekend on the track will begin Friday with sophomores Halle Bieber and Maya Provencal lining up in the women's 60m hurdles at 5:40 p.m.
Bieber helped the Blue Devils sweep the event last weekend in Blacksburg, as she clocked 8.72 seconds to finish third overall behind junior Isabel Wakefield and sophomore Elasia Campbell.
Bieber ran the third-fastest 60m hurdles in Duke indoor history last season, clocking 8.44 at the ACC Championships.
Provencal took sixth place last weekend with a time of 8.91 seconds. She recorded a PR of 8.84 in the prelims.
Provencal will join freshman Hailey Williams and sophomore Jenna Crean in the women's 60m dash at 6:10 p.m. She posted a personal-best time of 7.69 seconds at Virginia Tech last weekend.
Williams got her collegiate career started with a second-place showing in the 60m at Clemson, where she clocked 7.72 seconds.
Sophomore Ezra Mellinger and sophomore Joseph Laster will compete in the men's 60m prelims at 6:25 p.m.
Mellinger 60m results this season include first at Clemson and fifth at Virginia Tech.
Laster took seventh at Virginia Tech last weekend. His PR time of 6.84 seconds, ran at the ACC Indoor Championships last February, stands as the third-fastest in Duke program history.
The Blue Devils' distance runners will get their first taste of competition this indoor season in the women's 1000m, where senior Leigha Torino and sophomore Rylee Bowen line up for a 6:35 p.m. start.
Both runners competed during the fall cross country season, with Torino earning a top-10 finish at the Panorama Farms Invitational in October. This weekend will mark the first collegiate 1000m for both runners.
The men's 1000m at 6:40 p.m. features junior Joe Cullen, sophomore Theo Burba, junior Devin Connell and freshman Jackson Walker.
Cullen's last track meet in Blacksburg came in February of 2020, when he finished fourth in the men's 800m with a PR time of 1:54.96 at the Virginia Tech Challenge.
Senior Lauren Hoffman and junior Kelcie Simmons will compete in the women's 300m at 8:50 p.m. It will be the first collegiate 300m for Hoffman, who placed first in the 500m last week at Virginia Tech.
Simmons finished fourth in the 300m with a time of 39.88 seconds at Clemson two weeks ago. Her PR in the event was recorded at the 2019 Hokie Invitational – a sixth-place time of 39.29 seconds.
Freshman Job Trahan will make his college debut in the men's 300m at 9 p.m., which also features senior Miles Mingo and grad-transfer Alex Schwedt.
Mingo's 300m time of 34.36 was good for fourth place at last week's meet in Blacksburg. His school-record time of 34.28 came at the Virginia Tech Invitational in January of 2020.
It will be Schwedt's first 300m in a Duke uniform. The Michigan transfer has made a mark quickly this season for the Blue Devils, as he placed first in both the 400m and 500m last weekend.
Hoffman and Simmons will get things started on Saturday at 1:45 p.m. when they line up for the women's 400m.
Mingo, Schwedt and Trahan are set to follow up with the men's 400m at 2 p.m.
Bowen and Torino will run in the women's 800m at 2:15 p.m. It will be Torino's first 800m competition since the 2019 Hokie Invitational, when she placed first overall with a time of 2:13.06.
The men's 800m will feature Burba, Walker and Cullen at 2:20 p.m.
Five Duke women's sprinters are slated for the 200m dash at 2:30 – Crean, King, Merritt, Provencal and Williams.
Simmons' PR time of 23.82, set at the Tiger Paw Invite last season, ranks third all-time at Duke.
Mellinger and Laster will go in the men's 200m at 2:45 p.m. Mellinger holds the school record of 21.46 seconds, and he claimed a first-place finish in his lone 200m run this season at Clemson.
Laster finished second in the event last weekend with a time of 23.06 seconds.
The women's 4x400m relay will conclude the weekend's track schedule. Last week at the Virginia Tech Invitational, a Duke quartet of Hoffman, King, Williams and Simmons finished with a first-place time of 3:49.84.