Aveni Sets Two Program Records as Duke Completes Run at Raleigh Relays

Saturday, March 27

Raleigh, N.C.

Duke University

Day Three at Raleigh Relays

Aveni Sets Two Program Records as Duke Completes Run at Raleigh Relays

3/27/2021 7:40:00 PM | Track & Field

Results (PDF)

RALEIGH, N.C. – Duke track & field turned in a record-setting performance on Saturday, as the Blue Devils set three program records on the final day of the Raleigh Relays at the Paul Derr Track Facility on the campus of NC State.

In Saturday's first event, redshirt senior Ben Beatty set the tone for the historic day. Beatty competed in the hammer and recorded a throw of 56.92 meters (186-9 feet), which was good for the third-best mark in program history. Beatty shattered his original personal best by 4.81m en route to a 14th place finish.

The Blue Devils continued to shine in the 4x100m relays. Fielding two teams in the women's race, the team of Halle Bieber, Brittany Aveni, Carly King and Cha'Mia Rothwell took home the top honors, winning the race with a mark of 44.53 seconds. The run ranks second all-time at Duke and marked the second
individual event victory for the Blue Devils this weekend.

Not to be outdone, the men's team also recorded the second fastest time in program history. The team of Joseph Laster, Miles Mingo, Alex Schwedt, and Ezra Mellinger came just .02 seconds short of a program record, finishing the race in 41.07 seconds.

After setting a school record in the 100m hurdles in the preliminaries, as well as the second fastest time in the 4x100m relay, Rothwell continued her record-breaking start in the 100m hurdles final. Her program record of 13.21 seconds on Thursday proved short lived, as she crushed her own record with a time of 13.09 seconds. Rothwell took home second place overall, but first among college athletes, coming in behind Nike's Gabrielle Cunningham, who set a facility record.

Rothwell was not the only Duke sprinter to make waves in the 100m hurdles. Fresh off her own top-five all-time performance in the preliminaries, junior Isabel Wakefield improved on her previous time as well. Wakefield turned in a run of 13.80 seconds, setting a personal best and reclaiming the fourth-best time in program history.

The star of the day proved to be graduate student Brittany Aveni. A part of the same relay team as Rothwell that ran the second-best time in program history, Aveni was out for more honors in the afternoon. The Geneva, Ohio native opened her individual day with a blazing run of 11.41 seconds in the 100m, breaking her own school record that she set on Thursday. The run was good enough for her second top-three performance of the day, as Aveni placed third overall.

Continuing her stellar start to the outdoor season, Aveni moved onto the 200m for her final event of the day. Aveni took it a step further, running into the record books with a time of 22.96 seconds to set the Duke record once set by Maddy Price (23.20 seconds) in 2018. The run was the first time any Duke woman turned in a sub-23 second time in the 200m, as Aveni took home first place overall to deliver the Blue Devils another top honor.

The day wrapped up with several more record book entries. Continuing the theme of his Duke tenure, sophomore Ezra Mellinger entered the top-five in the 100m, tying DeVon Edwards' run in 2015 with a time of 11.61 seconds. Mellinger took home sixth place overall and now holds top-five times in five of the six events he has competed in, adding the 100m to his indoor marks in the 60m, 200m, 300m and long jump.

Senior Lauren Hoffman took home third place in the 400m hurdles with a time of 58.72 seconds. The Haymarket, Va., native remains one of only four Duke women to record a time of under one minute in the 400m hurdles.

Senior Miles Mingo ended the day in the style, with a third-place finish in the 200m. Mingo recorded a wind-assisted time of 21.10 seconds, setting a personal best and recording the second fastest 200m mark in Duke history.

The Blue Devils will return to the track from April 2-3 at the Virginia Invitational in Charlottesville, Va. The event will serve as the final tune-up before a return home for the Tobacco Road Challenge & Combined Events from April 9-10.

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