Completed Event: Track & Field at NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 11, 2025 , , M: T-35th/72 (8.5) || W: T-34th/68 (8)
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Final
Track & Field
at NCAA Outdoor Championships
Duke Track & Field Indoor Season Preview
1/6/2021 11:07:00 AM | Track & Field
DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke track & field team heads into the 2021 indoor season nearly 10 months since it last competed at the ACC Championships in South Bend, Ind.
The elongated offseason paved way for major changes within the program, which is now set to navigate an indoor schedule that features 11 meets over the next nine weeks.
NEW-LOOK COACHING STAFF
TOP RETURNERS
TRANSFER ADDITIONS
Zoe Hughes, Multi-Events (Harvard)*
Danielle Okonta, Sprints/Hurdles (Dartmouth)*
Cha'Mia Rothwell, Hurdles (Dartmouth)*
Iman Sule, Sprints (Columbia)*
Julia Valenti, Pole Vault (Dartmouth)*
Liam Kahn, Throws (Butler)
Evan Lee, Multi-Events (Penn)*
Harry Lord, Multi-Events (Princeton)
Alex Schwedt, Sprints (Michigan)
*Will compete only during the outdoor season
Duke Hosting Two Outdoor Meets
The Blue Devils will travel to Clemson, S.C., for their indoor season-opener at the Orange and Purple Elite Meet on Saturday, January 9. More information, including heat sheets and a schedule of events, will be released prior to the day of the meet.
For more information on Duke track & field, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching 'DukeTFXC.'
#GoDuke
The elongated offseason paved way for major changes within the program, which is now set to navigate an indoor schedule that features 11 meets over the next nine weeks.
NEW-LOOK COACHING STAFF
- Of the many changes that came following the 2020 spring season's cancelation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps the most notable happened in April, when Director of Track & Field Norm Ogilvie announced his retirement after 30 seasons on the coaching staff in Durham.
- Shawn Wilbourn was promoted to oversee the program as interim head coach in July, after spending the previous 10 years as an associate head coach.
- In his experience as associate head coach, Wilbourn worked with student-athletes competing in combined events, pole vault, horizontal jumps and hurdles.
- Wilbourn added Assistant Coach Jacky Mendes to the staff in July. Mendes spent the past three seasons in a similar role at the University of New Hampshire, where she worked primarily with men's and women's jumpers.
- Daniel Goetz was promoted to full-time assistant coach in July after serving as a volunteer assistant since 2017. Goetz works with both the men's and women's cross country teams and will continue to coach distance and middle distance events on the track.
- The rest of the coaching staff features Assistant Coach Rhonda Riley – who recently concluded her first fall season as interim head coach of men's cross country squad and fifth year with the women's team – as well as Associate Head Coach B.J. Linnenbrink (12th season at Duke) and Assistant Coach Mark Mueller (seventh season).
- Maddy Price and Michael Terwilliger will be returning as volunteer assistant coaches, while Sarah Glidden and Davion Sutton enter their first season with Duke in that role.
- Also joining the staff as volunteer assistants are a pair of former Blue Devils: two-time national champion heptathlete Curtis Beach and All-ACC middle distance runner Sean-Patrick Oswald.
TOP RETURNERS
- The 2021 roster features several Blue Devils who have already made an impact at the ACC level in their career.
- Erin Marsh enters her senior season after winning a gold medal in the pentathlon at the 2020 ACC Indoor Championships last February.
- Marsh, whose 4,186 point total ranks second all-time at Duke, was set to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships prior to the event's cancelation.
- The Buford, Ga., native also earned second-team All-ACC status in the 60m hurdles.
- Sophomore Elasia Campbell aims to build on a freshman campaign that saw her claim silver in the high jump at ACC's.
- Duke will look to graduate student Chesney Ward for another strong season after she posted a sixth-place finish in the pole vault at the conference meet, garnering second-team All-ACC honors as a senior.
- Each of the four members of the women's distance medley relay team that took fourth at ACC's last February are returning for the Blue Devils – graduate student Brittany Aveni and seniors Lauren Hoffman, Leigha Torino and Michaela Reinhart.
- Reinhart had a strong weekend altogether to cap off her 2020 indoor campaign, finishing as the ACC runner-up in the 3,000m with the second-fastest time in Duke history (9:13.13).
- Junior Kelcie Simmons also made her way into the program record book by posting the third-fastest time in both the 60-meter sprint (7.51 seconds) and 200m (23.82).
- The men's DMR team that finished fourth at the ACC Indoor Championships features three returners – graduate student Connor Atkinson, senior Alex Miley and junior Matt Politis.
- Jacob Sobota enters his senior season looking for his third career All-ACC honor in the heptathlon. Sobota finished second at the conference meet last February with 5,184 total points.
- Duke boasts multiple men's sprinters that recorded top-five times in program history last winter. Sophomore Ezra Mellinger broke a 13-year-old school record in the 200m, clocking 21.46 seconds, while senior Miles Mingo did the same in the 300m (34.28).
- Mingo also posted the second-fastest time in the 400m (47.45), and sophomore Joseph Laster's 60m time of 6.84 seconds ranks third among Blue Devil runners.
- Redshirt-senior Ben Beatty holds the farthest weight throw (19.08 meters) and second-best shot put mark (18.01 meters) in Duke history – both of which he recorded last February.
- Men's senior CJ Ambrosio and women's sophomore Samantha Schadler will look to carry over their success from the cross country season to distance and middle distance events. At the ACC Cross Country Championships in October, Ambrosio earned his first career all-conference honor by finishing 16th on the 8K course, while Schadler culminated an impressive sophomore campaign by placing 10th in the women's 6K for her first All-ACC recognition.
TRANSFER ADDITIONS
- With multiple conferences not competing in winter sports due to COVID-19 and the NCAA granting an additional year of eligibility for all winter-sport student-athletes, Duke was able to bring in key additions via transfer:
Zoe Hughes, Multi-Events (Harvard)*
Danielle Okonta, Sprints/Hurdles (Dartmouth)*
Cha'Mia Rothwell, Hurdles (Dartmouth)*
Iman Sule, Sprints (Columbia)*
Julia Valenti, Pole Vault (Dartmouth)*
Liam Kahn, Throws (Butler)
Evan Lee, Multi-Events (Penn)*
Harry Lord, Multi-Events (Princeton)
Alex Schwedt, Sprints (Michigan)
*Will compete only during the outdoor season
Duke Hosting Two Outdoor Meets
- Morris Williams Stadium is slated to host two meets during the spring season, beginning with the Duke Invite & Combined Events from Friday, April 9 through Saturday, April 10.
- The Blue Devils will then welcome in three teams for the Duke Twilight meet on Sunday, May 2.
The Blue Devils will travel to Clemson, S.C., for their indoor season-opener at the Orange and Purple Elite Meet on Saturday, January 9. More information, including heat sheets and a schedule of events, will be released prior to the day of the meet.
For more information on Duke track & field, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching 'DukeTFXC.'
#GoDuke
Players Mentioned
Distance
/ Track & Field
Hurdles
/ Track & Field
Middle Distance
/ Track & Field
Throws
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Multi-Events
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Multi-Events
/ Track & Field
Throws
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Multi-Events
/ Track & Field
Multi-Events
/ Track & Field
Multi-Events
/ Track & Field
Sprints/Jumps
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints/Jumps
/ Track & Field
Multi-Events
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Middle Distance
/ Track & Field
Pole Vault
/ Track & Field
Pole Vault
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