Mitchell Earns NCAA Championship Bid with Personal Best Performance

Thursday, May 23

Lexington, Ky.

All Day

Duke University

Day Two at NCAA East Regional

Moorea Mitchell smiles after punching ticket to NCAA Outdoor Championships in hammer throw

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Mitchell Earns NCAA Championship Bid with Personal Best Performance

5/23/2024 6:50:00 PM | Track & Field

Day 2 Results (PDF)

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Senior Moorea Mitchell turned in a personal-best performance in the women's hammer throw to earn her first-career bid to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships while seven other Blue Devils advanced to the quarterfinals of their respective events. Halle Bieber, Julia Fenerty, Julia Jackson, Megan McGinnis, Lauren Tolbert, Charlotte Tomkinson and Skyla Wilson all advanced to the Saturday quarterfinals following strong showings in the opening round.

TOP PERFORMANCES

Another rain-marred morning delayed the start to the first day of women's action at the NCAA East Regional but senior Moorea Mitchell didn't allow that to deter her, punching her ticket to the national meet via the best performance of her career.
Stepping into the cage on her opening attempt, Mitchell launched the hammer 60.19m (197-5 feet) – her best of the competition – to secure her spot among the field's top 12. The throw was nearly a foot farther than her previous best and improved her No. 3 all-time program mark.
Wilson put on a dazzling display of running en route to notching automatic spots in Saturday's quarterfinals in the women's 100m and 400m hurdles. The graduate student posted the second-fastest 100m hurdle time in Heat 2 and improved her No. 2 all-time Duke mark as she clocked a personal best of 13.09 seconds. She crossed the line in the 400m hurdles with a time of 57.33 seconds.
The Blue Devil trio of graduate student Fenerty, Tolbert and Tomkinson raced well in the first round of the women's 800m to advance. Tomkinson led the charge for the Duke threesome, parlaying a career-best finish of 2:02.79 into an automatic berth in the quarterfinal round. Her time was the second-fastest of Heat 3 as well as the overall field and slotted herself No. 3 all-time in program history in the process.
Tolbert posted the fastest time in Heat 1 and the sixth-fastest of the first round, crossing the finish line in 2:03.82 to also earn an automatic qualifier. Fenerty finished her race in 2:04.94 to qualify on time.
Jackson and McGinnis took part in the women's 400m race, turning in times of 53.04 seconds and 53.21 seconds, respectively, to advance to the next race.
Bieber rounded out the group of Blue Devils advancing to the quarterfinals on Saturday as the graduate student collected an automatic bid via a time of 23.17 seconds.

2024 NCAA Outdoor Championship Qualifiers

Simen Guttormsen – Pole Vault
Christian Johnson – Hammer Throw
Ezra Mellinger – Long Jump
Moorea Mitchell – Hammer Throw
Aimar Palma Simo – Hammer Throw
Brianna Smith – Heptathlon

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