Blue Devils Travel to Clemson for Season-Opening Meet

Saturday, January 9

Clemson, S.C.

Duke University

Orange and Purple Elite Meet

Blue Devils Travel to Clemson for Season-Opening Meet

1/8/2021 1:08:00 PM | Track & Field

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS HEAT SHEET - FIELD HEAT SHEET - TRACK LIVE RESULTS

DURHAM, N.C. – After an offseason that lasted nearly 10 months, the Duke track & field team will get the 2021 indoor campaign started on Saturday, Jan. 9, at the Orange and Purple Elite Meet in Clemson, S.C.

Hosted by Clemson University, the meet will also feature Georgia Tech and Southern Wesleyan as well as unattached competitors.

FIELD EVENTS

Field events will kick off at 10 a.m. ET, with Brynn King competing for Duke in the women's pole vault.
King, a sophomore out of Tomball, Texas, will make her first appearance in a collegiate meet.
Beau Allen will take part in the men's high jump, which is also slated for a 10 a.m. start.
In last season's Tiger Paw Invitational at Clemson, Allen cleared 6-11.5 feet (2.12 meters), which stands as the fourth-highest mark in Duke indoor history and was good for fourth in the event.
Ezra Mellinger will get his sophomore campaign underway when he competes in the men's long jump at 12 p.m.
Like Allen, Mellinger also had a noteworthy performance his last time out at Clemson. At the Tiger Paw Invitational, he clocked 21.46 seconds in the 200m to set a new Duke indoor record. Mellinger's best long jump came in his second collegiate competition, when he recorded a mark of 23-6.75 feet (7.18m) to take second overall at the Virginia Tech Invitational and land himself fourth all-time at Duke.
A pair of newcomers will go head-to-head in the men's pole vault at 3 p.m., as graduate-transfer Harry Lord and freshman Gage Knight are set to make their Blue Devil debuts.
Lord joined the Duke program in June after competing at Princeton for the past four seasons. His last recorded pole vault came at the 2019 Ivy League Outdoor Championships, where he recorded a height of 12-8.25 feet (3.87m), good for sixth in the event. That performance came as part of the decathlon that he finished seventh in with 6,201 points. Lord's indoor personal record in the pole vault is 14-7.25 feet (4.45m), which he recorded in the midst of a fourth-place performance in the heptathlon at the 2019 Ivy League indoor conference meet.
Duke will be represented by three student-athletes in the women's high jump, which will close out the day at 4 p.m.
Sophomore Elasia Campbell is set to make her first appearance in the high jump since claiming silver at the 2020 ACC Indoor Championships, where she cleared 5-9.25 feet (1.76m) for the fourth-highest mark in Duke indoor history.
Junior Isabel Wakefield will also be taking part in her first high jump since last year's ACC meet. Wakefield's PR came at the "Doc" Hale Virginia Tech Invitational last February, as she recorded a height of 5-3.0 feet (1.60m).
Rounding out the trio is freshman Brianna Smith, who will be competing in her first collegiate meet.

TRACK EVENTS

Campbell, Smith, Wakefield, sophomore Halle Bieber and sophomore Maya Provencal will get the track events started for Duke in the women's 60m hurdles at 12:15 p.m.
Provencal ran in the event at the season-opening Carolina Challenge a year ago, where she posted a time of 8.89 seconds. Her other PR's include a 7.76 finish in the 60m dash and a 25.68 mark in the 200m.
Wakefield's time of 8.57 seconds in the 60m hurdles at last year's ACC Indoor Championships was good for third overall, her best result of the pentathlon events.
Bieber also set a PR in the event at the ACC indoor meet, clocking 8.44 seconds, which went in as the third-fastest time in Duke program history.
Lord and Knight will once again compete against each other, this time in the men's 60m hurdles at 12:30 p.m. Lord's personal-best time came at the 2019 Princeton Indoor Invitational, where he crossed the finish line in 8.89 seconds.
The women's 60m dash will feature sophomore Carly King, junior Kelcie Simmons and freshman Hailey Williams at 1:10 p.m.
Simmons clocked the third-fastest 60m time in program history (7.51) at the ACC meet last February.
Senior Lauren Hoffman and sophomore Jenna Crean will line up in the women's 600m run at 1:20 p.m.
In the men's 600m at 1:30 p.m., grad-transfer Alex Schwedt and freshman Alejandro Rodriguez will make their first-ever appearances for the Blue Devils.
Schwedt ran at the University of Michigan from 2017-20, competing in the 600m in seven meets over his career. He recorded a PR time of 1:19.23 at the 2019 Big Ten Indoor Championships.
Mellinger will go toe-to-toe with senior Miles Mingo in the men's 60m at 1:45 p.m.
Mingo holds a PR of 7.08 seconds, which he ran at the Carolina Challenge last season, while Mellinger's best time of 6.93 seconds came at the "Doc" Hale Virginia Tech Invitational.
Four Duke runners will be competing in the women's 300m dash – Bieber, Crean, Simmons and Williams. That event is set for 3 p.m.
At 3:15, Mingo, Rodriguez and Schwedt will line up for the men's 300m.
Mingo set the Duke all-time record last January with a 300m time of 34.28 seconds at the Virginia Tech Invitational.
The meet will not feature any Blue Devils until 3:55 p.m., when Hoffman, King and Provencal take part in the women's 200m.
The last 200m Simmons ran at Clemson put her third all-time at Duke, as she clocked 23.82 at the 2020 Tiger Paw Invitational.
Duke's final appearance will come at 3:55 p.m., when Mellinger gets set for the men's 200m. The Ronks, Pa., native will also aim to beat a historic mark that he set his last time at Clemson, as last year's Tiger Paw Invitational saw him set the Blue Devils indoor 200m record with a time of 21.46 seconds.

OTHER NOTES

Shawn Wilbourn will be making his debut as Duke interim head coach. Wilbourn was promoted to the position in July of 2020 after spending the previous 10 years as associate head coach.
Assistant Coach Jacky Mendes will be coaching her first meet with the Blue Devils. She joined the Duke staff in July of 2020 after three seasons in a similar role at the University of New Hampshire.
For more information on the 2020-21 Duke track & field team, please view the Duke Track & Field Indoor Season Preview.

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