No. 16 Duke Women Win Team Title at High Point Meet of Champions

Saturday, April 16

High Point, N.C.

All Day

Duke University

Meet of Champions

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 16 Duke Women Win Team Title at High Point Meet of Champions

4/16/2022 10:14:00 PM | Track & Field

Final Results (PDF)

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Behind several record-setting performances, the 16th-ranked Duke women's track team registered a first-place finish Saturday afternoon at the Meet of Champions.

The Duke women won their side of the meet after totaling 138 points, edging out runner-up Liberty who finished with 137 points. The men placed third at the meet with 154 points.

Similarly to the 2021 ACC Indoor and Outdoor Championship, Duke's women's team trailed heading into the final event – the 4x400m. But just as they did on both occasions, the Blue Devils closed strong and rode their relay unit to the team title. The quartet of Abby Geiser, Lauren Hoffman, Carly King and Nikki Merritt blew past the rest of the field and clocked 3:36.94 to claim the win. Their time shattered the seven-year-old facility record by almost two seconds and was nearly three seconds faster than the runner-up.

Duke also saw two more Vert Stadium records fall behind the efforts of its 4x100m relay and Hoffman in the 400m hurdles. In the first women's track event of the day, the Blue Devil unit of Halle Bieber, Geiser, Maya Provencal and Kelcie Simmons broke the previous record set in 2018 as they finished in 44.95 seconds to beat out the High Point relay squad.

Hoffman continued her excellent season in the 400m hurdles with another standout performance. After setting the Vert Stadium record back on March 19, the graduate student won her event and lowered her previous 400m hurdle facility mark via a run of 56.12 seconds.

In addition to the three facility records, the women's team also saw first-place finishes in four other events. Senior Dana Baker clinched the top spot in the javelin thanks to a 45.96m (150-9 feet) toss on her fourth attempt, while sophomore Brianna Smith won her second high jump event of the season with a leap of 1.75m (5-8.75 feet). Bieber claimed victories in the 100m and 200m events behind all-conditions bests of 11.39 seconds and 23.22 seconds, respectively.

The men's team's performance was highlighted by a trio of top-five program marks and six overall event wins. Graduate student Erick Duffy shined in the men's pole vault and established a new program record, and personal best, in the process. After passing on the first seven heights, Duffy cleared the next three bars – winning the event on a clearance of 5.36m (17-7 feet) – a height no one else in the field could surpass.

Duke capped the evening on a high note as the men's unit of Colin Grip, Miles Mingo, Alejandro Rodriguez and Alex Schwedt completed the Blue Devil 4x400m relay sweep. The quartet ran their way into the Duke record books delivering the program's third-fastest event time of 3:10.12.

Schwedt also displayed strong running in the 400m dash earlier in the day and collected his second event win after clocking 47.53 seconds. Junior Owen MacKenzie had a great showing in his 3000m steeplechase opener, winning the event in a time of 9:18.13 – seven seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

Rounding out the first-place finishes for the men were junior Beau Allen and graduate student Chris Shanahan. Allen leapt 2.13m (6-11.75 feet) during the afternoon session and picked up his third consecutive and fourth men's high jump win of the season, while Shanahan flung his javelin 67.23m (220-7 feet) on his final attempt to claim the top spot.

On the men's side of the 4x100m relay, Duke got strong running from its quartet of Joseph Laster, Ezra Mellinger, Mingo and Donovan Spearman. The group's time of 40.89 seconds was good for second place and slotted them third all-time at Duke.

Up Next:
Duke makes the trip to Charlottesville, Va., where the Blue Devils will compete at the Virginia Challenge April 22-23.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils cross country and track & field, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeTFXC."

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