One Last Wave: Track and Field’s Duckett and Harewood to Return in 2020-21
Jun 11, 2020 | Track & Field
NEW ORLEANS — Tulane director of cross country and track and field Eric Peterson announced on Thursday that track and field's graduate student Jessica Duckett and senior Maya Harewood will be returning next year for another outdoor season with the Green Wave.
Duckett and Harewood's decisions to return Uptown came after the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to all student-athletes in spring sports whose seasons were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Maya and Jessica have both helped our program grow so much and in many ways," Peterson said. "Not just from an athletic standpoint but they're also great team members, they're really good campus citizens, they provide maturity and leadership and I think, most importantly, they exhibit an example of everything that we want our student-athletes to be. Good students, great athletes and good people."
Thrilled to announce that @Lovee_Jessiee will be back on the track next year in Olive and Blue!
— Tulane XC & TF (@GreenWaveXCTF) June 11, 2020
Sixth year, best year 👟#OneLastWave | #RollWace pic.twitter.com/TvcTYeZa4i
Joining the Green Wave roster as a freshman in the fall of 2015, Duckett immediately made her presence known. The Houston, Texas native broke the 60-meter hurdle and 100-meter hurdle school records in her first season in New Orleans, also finishing first at the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championship in the 400-meter hurdles, breaking Tulane's freshman record and qualifying for the NCAA East Regionals.
Duckett went on to win the 100-meter hurdles at the AAC Championship in 2018, setting a school record of 13.02 that she still holds today. Despite battling injuries during her five years at Tulane, Duckett was named a Second Team All-American after reaching the National Championship meet two years in a row and now holds nine top-ten records in individual and team events in school history.
She's BACK!@trackmah has some unfinished business to take care of and will officially be returning for one more season 👟#OneLastWave | #RollWave pic.twitter.com/8ubBltRsTM
— Tulane XC & TF (@GreenWaveXCTF) June 11, 2020
After arriving in New Orleans from her hometown of Bothell, Washington in the fall of 2016, Harewood also made an immediate impact on the Tulane track and field team. During her four years with the Green Wave, Harewood placed eight times in the American Athletic Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships, most notably finishing second and third in the 400-meter dash in the 2018 and 2019 outdoor seasons. The senior has left her mark on the program, owing four top 10 spots in the school's record books (10th/60-meter, 5th/200-meter, 7th/400-meter, 7th/4x400).
"We are going to be presented with this new way forward and my hope, and frankly my expectation, is that athletes like Jessica and Maya will really help lead the way for the kind of team and program that we're going to evolve into as we get going again," Peterson added. "We're excited to have them back and I'm just thrilled at the decision and the commitment to come back and finish strong."
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