Blue Devils Open Outdoor Season at Raleigh Relays

Thursday, March 25

Raleigh, NC

Duke University

Day One at Raleigh Relays

Photo by: Reagan Lunn

Blue Devils Open Outdoor Season at Raleigh Relays

3/24/2021 2:46:00 PM | Track & Field

Live Stats Schedule (PDF)

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke track & field returns to action for the start of the outdoor season, as the team makes the short drive to Raleigh, N.C. for the Raleigh Relays. The Blue Devils are resuming competition, following a week-long reprieve after the NCAA Championships in both cross country and track & field.

Competition is set to begin on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. ET and continue until Saturday evening. NC State is playing host to the event at the Paul Derr Track Facility.

FIELD EVENTS
Thursday:

The Raleigh Relays begin in the morning, with the men's javelin at 10:30 a.m., followed by women's shot put and women's pole vault.
Graduate student Kiegan Lenihan, junior Kyle Foltz, sophomore Luke Jackson and freshman Scott Campbell will open competition in Raleigh for the Blue Devils in the javelin. Lenihan will seek to improve his PR mark of 232-10.00 feet which ranks third in program history.
Sophomore Kinsie Huggins will represent the Blue Devils in the shot put, while sophomore Brynn King will look to build on her solid collegiate debut in the indoor season in the pole vault.
Roles will be reversed in the afternoon, with men's pole vault starting things off at 2 p.m., followed by women's javelin and men's pole vault.
Junior Isabel Wakefield is looking to build off All-ACC Second Team honors in the pentathlon, with a strong start in the outdoor season, as she leads the javelin corps.

Friday:

The Blue Devils will compete in the women's discus and the men's and women's high jump.
Sophomore Payton Little is set to compete in her second collegiate event and first in the discus, returning to competition for the first time in over 14 months.
2021 ACC Indoor Championships Bronze Medalist Elasia Campbell returns to action to lead the women's high jump field. Campbell recorded the fourth highest mark in program history (1.79m) at the Indoor Championships and is looking earn All-ACC First Team honors in both the indoor and outdoor high jump.

Saturday:

Field events will conclude with the men's and women's hammer and men's and women's long jump, beginning with men's hammer at 10:00 a.m.
Redshirt senior Ben Beatty and freshman Moorea Mitchell will compete in the hammer. Beatty is looking to add more honors to his decorated Duke career, after taking home a bronze medal and All-ACC First Team honors in the shot put at the ACC Indoor Championships.
Sophomore Ezra Mellinger leads the way for the Blue Devils in the men's long jump. Mellinger enters Raleigh after earning All-ACC Second Team honors in the 4x400 meter relay and long jump at the ACC Indoor Championships.
Junior Nikki Merritt leads a strong group of women into the long jump, coming off a personal best mark of 5.93m (19-5.5 feet) at the ACC Indoor Championships.

TRACK EVENTS
Thursday:

Competition begins at 2:15 p.m. with the women's 100m hurdles and continues with the men's 100m hurdles, men's and women's 100m and then men's 1500m and 5000m.
Graduate student Cha'Mia Rothwell is set to make her Duke debut in the 100m hurdles. The Durham, N.C. native is a transfer from Dartmouth College and a two-time Ivy League Indoor Heps Most Outstanding Female Field Performer.
Another graduate student transfer will represent the men in the 100m hurdles. Evan Lee joins the Blue Devils from the University of Pennsylvania. Lee is a two-time All-Ivy League Second Team honoree and holds the Quakers record in the indoor heptathlon.
The Blue Devils will send six student-athletes to compete in the 100m in one of the deepest fields in the competition.
Fresh off an All-ACC Second Team nod in the 400m, sophomore Carly King is opening her outdoor season with the 100m. The sprinter from Davenport, Iowa has competed in the 60m, 200m, 300m and 400m in the indoor season and will make her 100m debut this weekend.
An owner of one of the top-five 100m times in program history, Kelcie Simmons returns to action and looks to best her previous PR in the event of 11.75 seconds.
Graduate student Elena Brown-Soler joins the fold following a prolific career at Penn. A four-time All-Ivy League First Team honoree and a 2019 All-America Honorable Mention in the 4x400m relay, Brown-Soler opens her Blue Devils career with the 100m.
Sophomore Ezra Mellinger opens his outdoor season in the men's 100m. The Ronks, Pa. native owns top-five program marks in every event he has competed in and will look to add his name in the record books in his first crack at the 100m.
Senior Miles Mingo is hoping to parlay his second All-ACC Second Team honor in the indoor season into a successful outdoor season, looking to best his PR of 11.20 seconds in the 100m.
Sophomore Sam Rivera is set to make his Duke outdoor debut in the 5000m.

Friday:

Action will be headlined by the men's and women's 400m, as well as the women's 1500m and 5000m.
Graduate student Connor Atkinson and freshman Job Trahan are set to see action in the men's 400m.
The Blue Devils will feature two newcomers and two All-ACC honorees in the women's 400m.
Graduate students Danielle Okonta and Iman Sule join the Blue Devils from Dartmouth and Columbia University respectively and are set to make their Duke debuts.
Sophomore and 2021 ACC Bronze Medalist Jenna Crean is hoping to ride a wave of momentum from her result as part of the DMR team at the ACC Indoor Championships and will be joined by four-time All-ACC Lauren Hoffman in the 400m.
USTFCCCA All-American Leigha Torino is back in action in the 1500m, fresh off her ninth-place finish in the 800m at the 2021 NCAA Championships. Torino already owns the third fastest time in Duke history in the 1000m and will attempt to add another record to her growing list of accomplishments.
Freshman Kelli Wilson is set to make her outdoor season debut in the 5000m. Wilson split time between the 3000m in the indoor season and the 5K and 6K in the cross country season.

Saturday:

A packed day of competition starts at 11 a.m. and will feature the men's and women's 4x100m relay, the men's and women's 800m, the men's and women's 100m and 100m hurdles finals, the men's and women's 400m hurdles, the men's and women's 200m, the men's 3000m steeplechase and conclude with the men' 4x400m relay.
Hoffman, Merritt and Okonta will all return to action in the 400m hurdles.
The women's 200m will feature 11 Blue Devils, including several previous competitors in Brown-Soler, King, Simmons and Sule.
2021 ACC Bronze Medalist in the DMR, Joe Cullen, leads the men in the 800m, while Rylee Bowen is looking to improve her PR time of 2:28.69 in the women's 800m
Sophomore Ryan Thompson is set to be the sole Duke representative in the 3000m steeplechase.