The women's track team has plenty of room for improvement when it participates in the Atlantic Coast Conference indoor championships today and Saturday in Greensboro.
The Blue Devils settled for last place in the meet in 1993 -- evidence of the fierce competition in the ACC. Leading the pack will be a highly-touted team from UNC.
"North Carolina is favored to win by over 100 points," head coach Mike Forbes said.
The Blue Devils hope to beat Maryland, which barely finished ahead of Duke to claim eighth-place last year.
Although a high finish is out of the picture, there are potential bright spots for Duke. Several runners have been included on weekly listings of the top 10 performances in each event in the ACC. These athletes include: senior Jeanne McFeely in the 800-meters, junior Amy Gravitt in the 5,000-meters, the distance medley team of senior Beth Berghausen, senior Christine Gregorski, sophomore Betsy Keever and McFeely; and the 4x400-meter team of freshman Kirsten Johnson, senior Liz Lorscheider, sophomore Nicola Crabtree, and Gregorski.
Duke is coming off a strong showing at Virginia Tech two weeks ago where two school records were broken in relays. Assistant coach Scott Yakola feels Duke has been running its best practices lately.
"There is nothing magical about it -- I'm not touching them with pixie dust," Yakola said. "They're just out there working hard."
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