WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Duke track and field opened its 2023 indoor season in style on Saturday as the Blue Devils won eight events, set 10 top-five program marks and registered 36 top-five placements across the Visit Winston-Salem College Kick-off and Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener.
TOP PERFORMANCES
- Representing Duke as the lone Blue Devil entry at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston, Mass., sophomore Amina Maatoug carried the momentum from a sensational cross country season into her first track meet as a Blue Devil.
- Competing amid a loaded women’s 3,000m field, Maatoug clocked 8:55.62 to place seventh, shattering the Duke school record in the process. The Leiden, Netherlands product unseated Shannon Rowbury’s 15-year-old mark (9:02.73) by nearly seven seconds.
- Back at the JDL Fast Track where the rest of the Duke squad was competing, the Blue Devils’ stellar day of competition was highlighted by the establishment of nine top-five program marks along with four new meet and facility records between the women’s 60m dash, long jump, 600m and weight throw, as well as the men’s long jump and weight throw.
- Senior Halle Bieber inserted herself into the top-five of the Duke women’s indoor 60m charts, taking second behind a time of 7.48 seconds – No. 2 all-time in school lore.
- Graduate student Arianna Gragg, sophomore Megan McGinnis and freshman Lauren Tolbert rewrote the Duke record books, after turning in phenomenal races in the 600m event.
- Tolbert took first with a time of 1:28.74c, McGinnis was second after finishing in 1:29.86c, while Gragg clocked 1:30.51c to place third.
- These respective times rank second, third and fifth all-time in Duke lore. The trio’s times were also meet records, with Tolbert and McGinnis’ finishes marking JDL Fast Track facility records as well.
- Graduate students Jide Akinjisola and Myles Schreck kickstarted their Duke careers with strong performances in the men’s weight throw as the pair etched their names into the Duke record books.
- Akinjisola’s toss of 60-9.25 feet (18.52m) was good for third place in the event and No. 3 all-time at Duke. Schreck took fourth on a throw of 56-4.50…
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