A young Blue Devil squad finally got the chance to race against regionally ranked opponents and did not disappoint.
Duke finished second overall in Friday’s adidas XC Challenge in Cary, N.C., placing three runners in the top 10 of a field of 56 athletes. The Blue Devils’ seven scoring runners completed the 5,000-meter WakeMed Soccer Park course in an average time of 17:32.08, with senior captain Madison Granger leading the group and notching a third-place finish in 17:11.7.
Granger and co-captain Anima Banks set the pace for Duke, passing the two-kilometer mark tied for fourth at 6:41.9.
“Madison and Anima did a great job of getting out there for our entire team and they worked together for most of the race,” Duke head coach Christine Engel said. “They showed really great leadership up front.”
Granger pulled away from her teammate in the second half of the race, staying close behind N.C. State’s Ryen Frazier, Rachel Koon and Megan Moye. Frazier—the younger sister of former Blue Devil and now-Wolfpack harrier Wesley Frazier—stopped the clock at 16:06.5 to win the race, nearly a minute before Koon crossed the line in 17:06.0.
Freshman Sheridan Wilbur caught up to Banks as she made steady progress up from 14th at two kilometers. Moving up eight spots to finish sixth overall, Wilbur was the second Duke runner across the line in 17:20.3.
“Sheridan had a huge race,” Engel said. “She has been training consistently, and her confidence was high going into the race. She had run that course as a high school senior when her team came down from Rhode Island, and that was a 51-second improvement from what she ran a year ago.”
Banks closed out the final 400-meter uphill stretch not far behind her rookie teammate, finishing eighth in 17:23.9. All three Blue Devil harriers finished in personal-best times.
Senior Olivia Anderson finished 14th with a time of 17.46.7, dropping nearly 50 seconds from her season-best performance in 2014. Freshman Gabrielle Richichi also made it across the line under the 18-minute mark with a final time of 17:57.8, good for 17th. Her classmate Kim Hallowes finished close behind her in 18th at 18:02.0.
Rounding out the scoring positions for the Blue Devils, senior Allison Sturges—winner of the Bull City Classic Sept. 12—stopped the clock at 18:30.7.
“A lot of the girls stepped up really well,” Engel said. “We talked about running with composure and running competitively, and I think they executed really well on that. Their persistence and training is paying off.”
N.C. State—ranked fourth in the Southeast region by the most recent U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll—claimed the team title with six runners in the top 10 and its seventh scorer finishing 11th for a total score of 19 points.
Finishing with 48 points in second, Duke outscored Elon and North Carolina by 39 and 51 points, respectively. The Pirates are 13th in the Southeast and Tar Heels third. With Friday’s performance, the Blue Devils might break into the region’s top 15.
“It’s certainly always nice to beat teams who are ranked but rankings are just that,” Engel said. “We want to go out on race day and run to the best of our ability.”
Duke will have a two-week respite from competition before heading up to Princeton, N.J., for the Princeton Invitational Oct. 3.
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