Blue Devils Set to Host Duke Invitational

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke track and field program is set to host the Duke Invite Friday and Saturday, April 20-21 at Morris Williams Stadium. The meet will mark the second and final home meet for the 2018 campaign for Duke, previously hosting Michigan and North Carolina for the Battle of the Blues earlier this month.

“It’s our last home meet, but it also serves for some of our athletes to earn ACC marks,” said director of track and field Norm Ogilvie. “We’ve got really good races for them to do that. The weather should be good and we’re looking forward to it. The fields are very, very good. This is a better Duke Invite, on paper, than we’ve had in quite some time. There’s not only some good universities coming down, but clubs like the District Club of Washington DC coming. It should be a very successful meet. We’ve got a lot of entries and a lot of races.”

Friday’s sessions will begin at 9:00 a.m., with running events followed by field events at 10:00 a.m. Action will resume Saturday with field events scheduled for a 10:00 a.m., start and track events beginning at 2:30 p.m. The meet will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra starting at 1:40 p.m., on Friday and at 2:30 p.m., on Saturday.

With the Duke Invite serving as the final home meet of the season, a Senior Day ceremony will be held Saturday at 3:20 p.m., to honor the Duke student-athletes.

“I’m sure for each one the emotion will be different,” Ogilvie said. “For all the seniors, it’s a special time. When they think about all of the time they’ve spent here practicing and then hopefully going out with a bang in their final weekend. There is of course that most have another month of their season, so it’s not like their careers are over. But it’s over as far as competing home at Duke. I’m sure they’ll have varying emotions throughout the weekend.”

Sprints and Hurdles

Duke will have the top three sprinters in school history going head to head in the 100m. Maddy Price (11.65), Sydnei Murphy (11.70) and Kethlin Campbell (11.75) hold the top three times in Duke history and will be joined by Domonique Panton in the race.
Campbell and Price will come back to race in the 200m on Saturday. They have the top two times in Duke history as Price has clocked a 23.48 and Campbell a time of 23.61. Price won the race at the Battle of the Blues while Campbell finished third. Also racing will be MacKenzie Kerr and Simi Gbadegesin, who finished fifth and eighth, respectively, at the Battle of the Blues.
In the men’s 200m, Steven Solomon will make his outdoor debut. The Sydney, Australia is coming off finishing in seventh in the 400m while representing his home nation at the Commonwealth Games. He will be joined by Tionne Barmer and Miles Mingo. The pair finished in fifth and sixth, respectively at the Battle of the Blues.
Barmer will also compete in the 100m, an event he finished in third place in at the Battle of the Blues.
Price, Kerr and Gbadegesin will all toe the starting line in the 400m, where they will be joined by Brittany Aveni. Price (52.88) and Kerr (54.07) are No. 2 and No. 3, respectively in program history in the distance and this season Price took first and Kerr fourth at the Battle of the Blues.
Mingo and Sean Rafique will race in the 400m for the men. Mingo is fifth all-time at Duke after his time of 47.71 placed him second at the Battle of the Blues.
India Lowe and Erin Marsh will try to replicate their personal-best performances at the Battle of the Blues in the 400m hurdles. Lowe (59.46) ran the third-fastest time in Duke history and Marsh (1:00.27) the fourth en route to taking the top two spots.
Chase Peterson will compete in the 400m hurdles after running a season-best time of 53.76 to finish in fifth at the Battle of the Blues.

Distance

Duke will have four competitors in the men’s 800m race and five on the women’s side. Duke has had three runners run sub 1:52 times so far this season and all three will race on Saturday. Jordan Burton (1:51.13) and Kyle Francis (1:51.50) both finished in the top-three at the Battle of the Blues while Matt Wisner (1:51.49) took sixth at the Tennessee Relays last week. Also competing for the first time in the 800m this season will be Rafique.
Aveni will be racing in the 800m for the first-time since running a season-best 2:07.20 to take second at the Battle of the Blues. She will be joined by Veronica Brtek, Kim Hallowes, Liz Lansing and Leigha Torino. Torino (8th) and Lansing (9th) were both in the top-10 at the Battle of the Blues.
Many of the Blue Devils in the 800m will also compete in the 1,500m. Brtek, Hallowes, Lansing and Torino will all pull double duty and will be joined by Gabrielle Richichi and Sheridan Wilbur. Hallowes (4:30.17) and Richichi (4:34.38) both set personal-bests in the race at the Battle of the Blues.
On the men’s side, Burton and Francis will race alongside Josiah Hanko, Alex Miley, Nikhil Pulimood and Tom Sullivan. Burton has a season-best time of 3:50.36, trailing only Wisner among Blue Devils while Miley ran a time of 3:51.28 to finish sixth at the Battle of the Blues. Also in the top-10 at the last home meet was Sullivan, finishing in eighth.
Alec Kunzweiler will race for the second time in the 3,000m steeplechase and will try to win again after his time of 9:03.39 earned him first place at the Battle of the Blues. Michael Ungvarsky has finished in the top-five in both of his races in the steeplechase, while Matt Luppino, Adamson Bryant, Ethan Ready and AJ Eckmann will also race for Duke.
Leading off the meet on Friday morning will be the open section of the 5,000m while the invitational section will close the meet on Saturday evening. CJ Ambrosio and Lindsay Billings will each race for Duke in the men’s and women’s sections of the open 5,000m. Ambrosio will be racing for the first time at the distance this season while Billings ran to a personal-best time of 17:22.51 at the Raleigh Relays. In the invitational section, Nikhil Pulimood will represent Duke. Pulimood ran a season-best time of 14:21.49 at the Raleigh Relays to qualify for the ACC Championships.

Jumps and Pole Vault

Duke’s elite group of women’s pole vaulters will have some musical accompaniment as they compete as a DJ will perform during the invitational section. Madison Heath, Laura Marty, Nati Sheppard and Chesney Ward will all compete in the invitational section while Rivka Arbiv will compete in the open section. Heath (14-7.25 [4.45]), Marty (13-9.25 [4.20]) and Sheppard (13-3.50 [4.05]) have all set personal-bests this season, with Heath second and Marty fourth in the Duke record book. In total, the quintet has 10 top-10 finishes.
Panton and Murphy will both be entered in the triple jump with Murphy also competing in the long jump. Panton won the triple jump at the Battle of the Blues with a mark of 41-0.50 (12.51) while Murphy matched her a week later at the Tennessee Relays. The pair are now tied for second all-time at Duke.
Murphy also holds the Duke record in the long jump, clearing 21-0.50 (6.41) last year. This season, she has a pair of second-place finishes at the Texas Relays and the Battle of the Blues, as well as a fifth-place finish at the Tennessee Relays.
In the men’s high jump, Rivers Ridout enters the invitational section while Benjamin Ross and Bryant Lewis will compete in the open section. Ridout is third all-time at Duke with a personal-best of 6-10.75 (2.10) and has a pair of top-10 finishes this season. Lewis earned his first collegiate individual victory earlier this season at the Outdoor Opener.
For the women’s high jump, Tracy Jander and Cassie Martin are in the invitational section and Arbiv competes in the open. Both Jander and Martin have finished in second this season, Jander doing so at the Battle of the Blues and Martin at the Raleigh Relays.
In the men’s invitational pole vault, Esteban Suarez and Caleb Sanford will represent Duke. Both reached season-best heights at last week’s Tennessee Relays, Suarez clearing 15-9.00 (4.80) and Sanford 15-3.00 (4.65).
JR Smith will compete in the long jump. Smith has a third place finish to his name this season, doing so at the Battle of the Blues.

Throws

Through three throws this season, Stefani Vukajlovic has either set a personal-best or come within a meter of doing so in the women’s hammer throw. She opened her season with a first place finish at the Outdoor Opener and then set the Duke record with a throw of 203-1 (61.90) at the Texas Relays. She followed it with a first place finish at the Battle of the Blues.
The men’s javelin crew have had a strong start to the season, racking up 13 top-10 finishes so far. Kiegan Lenihan paces the squad with a throw of 217-9 (66.38), the third-best in Duke history. Right behind is Michael Marsack with a season-best of 216-8 (66.03), placing him fourth all-time at Duke. The pair were the top two finishers at the Battle of the Blues while Nicholas Solfanelli was right behind them in third with a throw of 206-2 (62.85). Completing the quartet is Travis Closs, who took fifth the last time out with a throw of 185-0 (56.38).
Iyin Battle will compete in the hammer throw after opening his season with the second-furthest hammer throw in school history, reaching 186-7 (56.87) and then finishing in third at the Battle of the Blues. He will be joined by Jack Maher who took fourth at the Battle of the Blues.
Maher will also compete in the shot put. The senior had a season-best toss of 50-6.25 (15.40) at the Raleigh Relays and has top-three finishes at both the Outdoor Opener (2nd) and Battle of the Blues (3rd).
Battle rounds out the throws with the discus throw. In his only attempt this season, he cleared 146-2 (44.56) to take second at the Battle of the Blues.

Live results for the meet can be found here.

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Blue Devils Set to Host Duke Invitational

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