WALNUT, Calif. – Transitioning from the heptathlon and decathlon events the past two days, five Blue Devils competed during the third day of the 57th annual Mt. Sac Relays Friday at historic Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, Calif. Sophomore Madeline Kopp and Madison Heath provided the highlights of the day by winning their individual events.
The lone field event participant of the day for the Blue Devils, Heath used the best performance of her career to capture the win in the women's pole vault open B event. The rookie out of Mandeville, La., successfully cleared 13-9.25 (4.20m), moving her to No. 3 on Duke's all-time list, before going out at 14-1.25 (4.30m). Heading into Friday, only 14 NCAA Division I women's pole vaulters, including teammate Megan Clark, have cleared heights better than Heath's most recent.
Starting the day with the women's 4x100 relay, senior Lauren Hansson, freshman Maddy Price, Kopp and senior Elizabeth Kerpon combined to place second among the 17-team field. The team, who set the school record last weekend at the Duke Invitational, clocked a time 45.36, finishing one tenth of a second behind Washington's 45.26 performance.
Each of the four relay members later competed in an individual sprint event, led by Kopp placing first in the women's 400m. The sophomore school-record holder clocked a winning time of 53.12, just shy of her personal-best 53.04.
Kerpon and Hansson each ran the 200m, placing 21st and 24th, respectively. Kerpon, who holds the Duke record with a time of 23.69, clocked a 23.91, while Hansson produced a personal-best 23.98, the No. 4 all-time mark in school history. Competing in the 400m hurdles, Price crossed the finish line in 1:03.01 to finish 31st overall.
Hansson, Kopp, Price and Kerpon will return Saturday to run in the women's 4x400 invitational at 8:10 p.m. ET, while Clark will compete in women's pole vault invitational at 2:30 p.m. ET.
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