Duke could not lose in its season-opening meet.
The Blue Devils welcomed six former student-athletes back to their home at Al Buehler Trail for the first-ever Duke Alumni Meet, the first of two home races to kick off 2015 competition for the women’s squad.
Without scheduled opponent N.C. Central, Tuesday’s race turned into a friendly competition between old and new faces of the Duke squad. Eight current Blue Devils crossed the line of the four-kilometer course before the alumni team finished in a pack.
“We had some really great performers back, like Cydney Ross, the school record-holder in the 800, flew down for it,” women’s head coach Christine Engel said. “There was definitely an air of excitement, and the girls felt supported. We are hoping to make it an annual event where alumni can keep coming back and get reintroduced to the team and feel that connection.”
Ross and five other familiar faces— including Jessica Davlin, Abby Farley, Gabby Levac and Colette Whitney—formed a pack behind Engel’s squad after the start. Jessica Buttinger, a four-year letter-winner in field hockey and a member of last season’s track team, was the first former Blue Devil across the line.
Captain Anima Banks led the way for a final lap around the track of the Morris Williams Track & Field Stadium, finishing in 14:07—a 17-second improvement from her season-opening 4,000 meters at the Virginia Duals in 2013. A strong presence for Duke in the middle-distance track events, the senior has been steadily increasing her training mileage since the end of the track season and was pleased by the team’s performance.
“No one truly remembers how hard cross country is until they run that first race,” Banks said. “So going into it, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but this was definitely good practice for getting used to it and pushing through that pain, toughening the body for 6K season.”
Banks, co-captain Madison Granger and classmates Olivia Anderson and Allison Sturges make up one-third of the 2015 roster, but are outnumbered by Engel’s first recruiting class. The upperclassmen will look to mentor their younger teammates as the season progresses.
“We have a small team this year with four seniors, five freshmen and two in the middle, so there has been a lot of senior-freshmen leadership and partnership,” Banks said. “That’s been good for the freshmen. We need them to get to nationals so there’s a lot of responsibility on them. They’ve been really rising to the challenge so far, and that was apparent today.”
Rookie Gabrielle Richichi followed right behind Banks to the front of the pack in her first race as a Blue Devil. Not losing sight of her captain through the four-kilometer course, the New Fairfield, Conn., native finished second with a time of 14:12. Freshmen Kim Hallowes and Sheridan Wilbur also posted strong times in their season opener, crossing the line in 14:38 and 14:45, respectively.
“It was great for the freshmen to put on the uniform for the first time and get some of the anxiety out,” Engel said. “In our sport, we rarely get to compete on our home turf so that was great for the girls to run on a trail they are familiar with, even though it’s Buehler, which is quite hilly.”
The freshmen will have one more contest at home to get acclimated to collegiate competition. Duke will host N.C. Central for the Bull City Classic, Sept. 12 at 9 a.m.
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