Four Program Records Fall On First Day of Hokie Invitational

Friday, January 20

Blacksburg, Va.

All Day

Duke University

Day One at Hokie Invitational

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Four Program Records Fall On First Day of Hokie Invitational

1/20/2023 11:37:00 PM | Track & Field

Day One Results (PDF)

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Duke track and field got off to a blazing start at the Hokie Invitational on Friday as the Blue Devils rewrote the school record books in four events on the first day of competition.

In addition to establishing new program bests in the 60m dash, men's weight throw, men's 1000m run and the women's 300m, the Blue Devils also tallied three more top-five program marks, won three events and registered 18 top-five placements.

TOP PERFORMANCES

Halle Bieber got the record-breaking party started in the prelims of the 60m dash that saw a personal-best performance to take down the record.
The senior registered the top time of her heat and the overall field as she dashed to a finish of 7.43 seconds to leapfrog India Lowe's four-year-old mark of 7.44 and slot herself into the top spot on the program list.
Sophomore Beck Wittstadt followed suit and delivered a historical performance in the 1,000m run. Wittstadt clocked a personal best of 2:21.55 – a time that dethroned the 53-year-old record set by former Olympian Bob Wheeler in 1971.
Graduate student Jide Akinjisola continued his strong start to the season with a personal-best performance of his own in the men's weight throw.
On his second throw of the day, Akinjisola got the weight out to 19.31m (63-4.25 feet), unseating Ben Beatty's 2020 mark of 19.08m (62-7.25 feet).
The Blue Devils closed the evening with a sweep of the top-five in the 300m dash, where the trio of sophomore Megan McGinnis (first), freshman Julia Jackson (second) and senior Halle Bieber (third) all ran under the previous school-record time of 38.21 set by India Lowe in 2019.
In their first-career 300m races, McGinnis and Jackson made immediate statements as they clocked 37.94 and 37.8, respectively, to cement themselves into the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on the program list.
Bieber turned in her second personal best of the day, this time running 38.09 seconds – No. 3 all-time in Duke lore.
Abby Geiser (38.97) and Madison Mulder (39.02) took fourth and fifth place, respectively, to round out the sweep of the top five.
The Blue Devils picked up an event win and a top-five program mark in the women's pentathlon.
Isabel Wakefield totaled 4,130 points to win the multis event, which featured a first-place finish in the 60m hurdles and long jump along with a runner-up finish in the shot put.
Graduate student Sara Absten took fourth in the pentathlon with 3,999 points – No. 5 all-time at Duke.
Sophomore Chyler Turner placed fourth in the women's 60m hurdles after matching her personal best and No. 4 Duke mark with a time of 8.37 seconds.
The men's 600m saw a top-five program time produced via personal-best performance by Jackson Walker.
Walker clocked 1:20.74 in the race to place third, catapulting himself into No. 3 all-time on the Duke list.
Duke's other event win took place in the men's 3,000m where Carter Dillon ran 8:15.56 to lead the 20-competitor field.
Over in the men's heptathlon, Max Forte leads the field with 2,984 points at the conclusion of Day One. Forte registered first-place finishes in the long jump and shot put.
For the complete results from Day One, click here.

UP NEXT
Duke wraps up competition on Saturday with Day Two of the Hokie Invite. On Saturday, the last three events of the heptathlon will take place beginning with the 60m hurdles at 10:30 a.m. The women's high jump kicks off the field events at noon while track events open at 2:00 and 2:15 p.m., respectively, with the women's and men's DMR.

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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