Blue Devils Continue Outdoor Season at Virginia Invitational

Friday, April 2

Charlottesville, VA

Duke University

Day One at Virginia Invitational

Blue Devils Continue Outdoor Season at Virginia Invitational

4/1/2021 3:32:00 PM | Track & Field

Live Stats Schedule (PDF)

DURHAM, N.C. – Fresh off a record-breaking weekend at the Raleigh Relays, Duke track & field is back in action at the Virginia Invitational from April 2-3. The event will take place on Lannigan Field on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va.

Competition is set to begin at 5:00 p.m., on Friday, April 2, with the bulk of events to come on Saturday, April 3.

FIELD EVENTS
Friday:

The Blue Devils will compete in the men's and women's hammer, represented by redshirt senior Ben Beatty and freshman Moorea Mitchell.
Beatty made his return to the hammer for the first time in nearly two years and did not disappoint, recording the third-best mark in program history at the Raleigh Relays (56.92 meters).
The Fredericksburg, Va., native now holds top-five marks in program history in the indoor and outdoor shot put, the hammer and the weight throw.
Mitchell enters the event fresh off her collegiate hammer debut, recording a mark of 47.45m (155-8 feet) to finish 21st at the Raleigh Relays.

Saturday:

Action resumes at 1:00 p.m., with the women's long jump, men's and women's javelin and women's pole vault set to compete simultaneously.
Women's javelin is headlined by the return of senior Erin Marsh. The NCAA Bronze Medalist in the pentathlon is back in action for the first time since her historic weekend at the NCAA Indoor Championships and will compete in the javelin, 100m hurdles and 200m.
Junior Dana Baker also returns and will look to best her fourth-place finish in the javelin at the Raleigh Relays.
Graduate student Kiegan Lenihan and sophomore Luke Jackson return for their second javelin event of the season, after finishing in seventh and eighth place, respectively, at the Raleigh Relays.
Graduate student Julia Valenti will look to record back-to-back first place finishes in the pole vault to begin her Duke career, after earning the title in Raleigh with a mark of 4.00m (13-1.5 feet).
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 to earn All-ACC First Team honors in both the indoor and outdoor high jump.
Sophomore Beau Allen hopes to build on his strong showing in the high jump in Raleigh, after earning a third-place finish with a mark of 2.05m (6-8.75 feet).
Beatty is set to return to the shot put for the first time this outdoor season, while sophomore Kinsie Huggins and graduate student Zoe Hughes headline the women's shot put field.
Graduate student Evan Lee will compete in a busy afternoon in both the long jump and pole vault to wrap up the field events.

TRACK EVENTS
Saturday:

All participating Blue Devils will compete on Saturday, beginning with the men's and women's 4x100m relay, starting at 2 p.m.
After recording the second-best time in program history last weekend, the women's 4x100m relay team will see gradate student Elena Brown-Soler rotate in to join Halle Bieber, Brittany Aveni and Cha'Mia Rothwell.
The men's 4x100m relay of Joseph Laster, Miles Mingo, Alex Schwedt and Ezra Mellinger will look to improve on their time in Raleigh, after also running the second-best mark in program history.
Fresh off setting the school record and fourth-fastest times in the 100m Hurdles, respectively, Rothwell and junior Isabel Wakefield will take another crack at improving their times in the same event at 2:25 p.m.
Laster will look to improve on his blazing 100m time in Raleigh that ranks fourth all-time at Duke and will be joined by Lee and graduate student Harry Lord in the 100m dash.
Graduate student Iman Sule made waves in her first event as a Blue Devil, earning a third-place finish in the 400m with a time of 54.15 seconds. Sule and sophomores Jenna Crean and Carly King will compete in the 400m once again in Charlottesville.
Senior Lauren Hoffman and junior Nikki Merritt will compete in the women's 400m hurdles, while graduate student Connor Atkinson will compete in the men's 400m hurdles. Hoffman took home third-place in the event in Raleigh and remains one of only four women to run a sub-minute time more than once.
Perhaps the deepest field of the afternoon will be in the 200m. New program record holder Brittany Aveni will compete once again and be joined by Marsh, junior Kelcie Simmons, sophomore Maya Provencal and freshmen Brianna Smith and Hailey Williams.
Sophomore Ezra Mellinger, who holds one of the top-five 200m time in indoor program history, will take his shot at the outdoor record books to lead a strong men's 200m field.
The evening will conclude with the men's and women's 4x400m relay. The Blue Devils will field two women's teams and one men's team.
The runs will mark the first such competition for the Blue Devils, as one team of Sule, Crean, Brown-Soler and Aveni and another of Hoffman, King, Williams and Merritt will compete for the women. Schwedt, Job Trahan, Atkinson and Mingo will compete for the men.