DURHAM – The Duke women's track and field team earned a spot in the final USTFCCCA top-25 rankings, finishing the indoor campaign tied for 18th nationally.
The Blue Devils culminated a stellar indoor season as they collected 10 points at the NCAA Indoor Championships this past weekend behind strong performances in the pentathlon by graduate student
Erin Marsh and senior
Isabel Wakefield. Marsh finished as runner-up in the event with a total of 4,383 points to beat her school record by 39 points. Her performance featured a personal-best toss of 12.86m (42-2.25 feet) in the shot put, a season-best run of 2:18.63 in the 800m and a season-best jump of 1.75m (5-8.75 feet) in the high jump.
In her first NCAA Indoors appearance, Wakefield placed seventh with 4,176 points, improving her Duke No. 3 all-time pentathlon mark in the process. She raced to a first-place finish in the 60m hurdles, clocking 8.17 seconds. Wakefield also twice notched a personal best in the high jump – 1.66m (5-5.25 feet), then 1.69m (5-6.50 feet) – before taking second in the long jump off a leap of 6.07m (19-11 feet).
The duo's performances earned them both first team All-America honors, marking the first time in program history that Duke has had two first team All-Americans in the same event in the same year.
Duke now turns its attention towards the outdoor season. The first outdoor meet on the docket is the Bob Davidson Invitational, hosted by High Point University in High Point, N.C. Events are slated to begin March 18 and conclude on March 19. More information on the event, including start lists and event times, can be found on GoDuke.com closer to the start of the event.
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