Duke cross country finishes second in Cary

Joseph Elsakr finished second in the Three Stripe Invitational, the final cross country race of his career.
Joseph Elsakr finished second in the Three Stripe Invitational, the final cross country race of his career.

When the runners on Duke’s ‘B’ team stepped up to the starting line at the Three Stripe Invitational in Cary this past Saturday, one of them was not only running his last race of the season, but the last of his Duke cross country career.

Senior Joseph Elsakr joined six current Blue Devils in Cary where they combined their efforts to take first place as a team, beating out teams from N.C. State and East Carolina University. The rest of the team, including former runners, such as now-volunteer assistant coach Andrew Brodeur and alumnus Cory Nanni, cheered the runners on and not only from the sidelines. Both Brodeur and Nanni raced alongside their former teammates as unattached runners, pacing and encouraging them onward.

“Joey Elsakr finished out a really wonderful cross country career here at Duke,” head coach Norm Ogilvie said. “He came from such a long way back to get where he is. [Joey] was certainly hoping that he would be finishing his career at the NCAA Southeast Regional meet—[but] he came one position short of doing that, so he had to finish up his career [here]... We’re extremely proud of what he’s accomplished here in his four years.”

Elsakr came in second for Duke behind freshman William Rooney who crossed the line in 15:21 to take first. Elsakr followed just seven seconds later, leading teammate William Hague who finished in sixth overall with a time of 15:36. Freshman Eddie Meranda and Brian Schoepfer came in eighth and ninth place, respectively. Junior Spencer Pecha crossed the line less than 30 seconds after Schoepfer to round out the top seven for the Duke team with a time of 16:07.

The meet, which was a chance for the runners to finish their season in a low-stakes competition, was an overall disappointment for the Blue Devils. Though the team was able to walk away with the win, many of the runners were less than happy with their finishes. One Blue Devil, freshman Daniel Moore, was forced to drop out of the race due to sickness and several others were feeling under the weather.

“I have no regrets,” Elsakr said. “I thought I ran well. I definitely think I could have run a little bit faster but it’s also been a good season and I’ve run a lot of good races, especially recently. ACC’s was just a week ago and I’m happy to be able to come back and run a good 5k.”

Though the season is over for these runners, the rest of the team is still looking ahead to the Regional meet. According to Ogilvie, Duke will be shooting for a top-four finish there in hopes of accomplishing its ultimate goal of reaching the NCAA Championships.

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