Paul VI’s Aliya Garozzo, a grad student at Duke, ran a 52.38 leadoff leg and the Blue Devils posted an auto qualifier in the 1,600-meter semifinals late Thursday night at the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
The top two teams in each of three semis and the next three-fastest teams advanced to the finals on Saturday.
Duke placed 2nd in the 1st of three heats in 3:28.98, their 3rd -fastest time this year. They ran 3:27.87 two weeks ago in the East Prelims in Jacksonville and 3:28.81 at the ACC Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Garozzo, a Sicklerville native, ran a 52.38 leadoff, 2nd-fastest of the eight leadoff runners in her race and 5th-fastest of 24 leadoff runners in the entire event.
She handed off to Julia Jackson from Scotch Plains-Fanwood in 2nd place. Duke was in 3rd when their 3rd runner handed off to their anchor – the names have been deleted from the results – but their anchor – I think it was Lauren Tolbert – split 51.33 to pass Tennessee’s anchor and lock up the large-Q qualifier.
Unbelievably, Duke’s “track record book” does not have a list of NCAA finishes in school history or a list of All-Americans. For a program as prominent as Duke, that’s inexcusable. There is a link on the women’s track web site to “All-Americans” but it’s only a list of names of Duke athletes in every sport who have made an All-America team with no mention of what event, what year or what place for track athletes. Good job, Duke sports info!
The 1,600-Meter Relay final is scheduled for 11:21 p.m. EST on Saturday, the final event of the four-day meet.
Less than 90 minutes earlier, Garozzo ran 57.37 and placed 14th in the 400-meter hurdles.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 