Blue Devils Tally Six More Top-Five Program Marks to Close Raleigh Relays

Saturday, March 30

Raleigh, N.C.

All Day

Duke University

Day Three at Raleigh Relays

Members of Duke University' Outdoor Track and Field team compete in a variety of track competitions. The 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Preliminaries continued into the second day with a variety of women's competitions at Hodges Stadium on the campus of the University of North Florida on May 25, 2023.
Picture made Mayl 25, 2023.
Fran Ruchalski

Photo by: Fran Ruchalski

Blue Devils Tally Six More Top-Five Program Marks to Close Raleigh Relays

3/31/2024 4:17:00 AM | Track & Field

Final Results (PDF)

RALEIGH, N.C. – Duke track and field concluded competition at the Raleigh Relays on a high note with the team registering six more top-five program marks – including one school record – to push its weekend total to 13.

The Blue Devils featured an even split on Saturday with three field athletes and three track athletes, respectively, revising the program record books in the men's and women's hammer throw, women's 200m, women's 400m hurdles and women's 800m.

Additionally, Duke produced a quartet of event wins via the women's pole vault invitational, men's long jump, women's 4x100m relay and women's 4x400m relay.

TOP PERFORMANCES

Opening the morning slate for Duke was the men's hammer throw competition where the trio of Christian Johnson, Aimar Palma Simo and Christian Toro put on another strong display of power en route to claiming two of the top-three placements and three of the top 10.
Duke's program record in the events came crashing down for the second time in as many weeks – this time via the efforts of Johnson. The graduate student came through with his furthest throw of the competition on his sixth attempt. Johnson slotted himself atop the field as his toss measured 70.26m (230-6 feet), surpassing his previous best by nearly 10 feet.
Toro delivered a strong showing of his own to place seventh among the field while improving his No. 3 all-time Duke mark in the process behind a throw of 63.98m (209-11 feet).
Palma Simo launched his second attempt 69.23m (227-1 feet) to earn the runner-up finish in the event.
Over in the women's hammer throw, graduate student Zoe Waddell turned in the best performance of her career with a nearly-four-foot personal best.
Waddell made her third attempt the charm and sent the hammer flying 58.95m (193-5 feet) to place fourth overall and improve her No. 4 all-time mark at Duke.
Competing alongside Waddell, senior Moorea Mitchell delivered her best performance of the season thus far and earned a third-place finish with a throw of 59.11m (193-11 feet).
Sophomore Lauren Tolbert brought the record-breaking action to the track, getting things going in the women's 800m. Tolbert finished her race in 2:03.17, good for fifth among the field, jumping one spot up the Duke leaderboard into No. 4 all-time.
Graduate students Tina Martin and Skyla Wilson rounded out the group of Duke athletes to register a top-five program mark as each turned in strong performances in their respective events to etch their names on the Duke charts.
Wilson picked up her first individual win as a Blue Devil in the women's 400m hurdles, clocking a season best of 57.98 seconds to slot herself fourth all-time in program lore.
Martin took part in the women's 200m race and dashed a career-best time of 23.25 seconds – good for No. 5 all-time at Duke.
The Blue Devils registered four additional event wins on the afternoon beginning with the women's 4x100m relay that kicked off the afternoon slate.
Duke's foursome of Maddy Doane, Abby Geiser, Julia Jackson and Martin breezed to a time of 44.64 seconds – just 0.37 seconds off the meet record.
Gemma Tutton improved to 2-0 this early outdoor season as the rookie collected her second victory in as many meets.
After passing on the first three heights, Tutton took on the ensuing two heights clearing them on her first and second attempts, respectively. The freshman would finish with a final clearance of 4.25m (13-11.25 feet) to pick up the dub as she cleared the bar on the first attempt.
Duke closed out the weekend on a high note via victories in their final field and track events of the day. The men's long jump saw Ezra Mellinger claim his second top-two placement of the outdoor season with the graduate student flying out to 7.42m (24-4.25 feet) on his fourth jump to place himself atop the field of 45 competitors.
On the track, Duke's quartet of Wilson, Jackson, Tolbert and Megan McGinnis clocked a seasons-best time of 3:32.64 to claim to win in the women's 4x400m relay – more than six seconds faster than the runner-up (Virginia).
Complete results from the Raleigh Relays can be found here.

UP NEXT
Duke makes the trek to High Point, N.C., to compete in the VertKlasse Meeting slated for April 5-6 at Vert Stadium.

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