Few athletic teams have the opportunity to have the members of their opposing team stay with them, but the men's and women's cross country teams will be doing just that this weekend as they host Yale for a home meet on the Duke cross country course.
Four years ago, Duke men's head coach Al Buehler and Yale men's head coach Steve Bartold agreed to an unusual setup in which runners from the visiting school would stay with the runners from the other school when Duke and Yale hosted meets at their respective universities.
This unique "runner-exchange" is now in its fourth year for the men and its third year for the women. Duke and Yale are similar academically as well as athletically, and this is a good chance for runners from both schools to interact with each other.
"It helps to release some stress because you have the chance to be friends with them before the competition when you line up at the starting line," junior Raquel Salume said.
For the men, the dual meet has always been close, with only three points separating the teams the first two years and a five point scoring difference last year when Yale edged the Blue Devils 25-30 in New Haven, Conn.
"Duke and Yale are two peas in a pod academically," Buehler said. "But on Saturday, [lack of athletic] scholarships won't be important and SAT scores and GPAs won't be important--racing will be the only thing that's important."
"[Having the Yale runners stay with us] doesn't matter that much," senior captain Pat Neville said. "We compete against guys on our team but we're friends with them. On the course, friendships go to the side and have no bearing on the competition whatsoever."
The top eight runners who will participate in the five-mile race will be junior Darin Mellinger, Neville, freshmen Tom Becker, Colin Young, Scott Antoun and Brandon Busteed, junior Brett Marcus and sophomore Mike Park.
"We're confident that we can win [the meet]," Becker said. "Wherever the meet has been held, the home team has always won. There are no guarantees, but this year we are looking pretty strong and everyone is healthy."
The Bulldogs have several strong runners of their own. Yale's top runner--Eric Hawkins--was sick last year and unable to run, but is back in top form and ready to race. Yale runner Weldon Johnson will also be returning and should be the Bulldogs' second runner.
"They are a little stronger up front, but we are a deeper team," Neville said.
In addition, this year there is added incentive for the Blue Devils to beat the Bulldogs.
"This year there will be a Duke-Yale cup that we will be swapping back and forth for whoever wins the meet," Buehler said. "It will be a good race. Our guys are ready."
As well as competing against Yale, the women's team will also race against Virginia Tech in order to see how they match up against two comparable teams. The Bulldogs have a team very similar to the Blue Devils in that they have only one senior and one junior while the rest of the squad is composed of freshmen and sophomores.
Duke has only two juniors on its team, and familiarity with running the five-kilometer course should not be much of a factor since only three people out of the 30 running the meet have ever raced there before.
According to the coaches, the team has been training on the trail most of the last two weeks in order to familiarize the younger runners with the challenging course.
Virginia Tech is a team that has been ranked as high as 12th in the South and Duke will face the Hokies again later this season at the District meet.
"If we beat Virginia Tech, it is a step at being in the top 10 in the South," head coach Mike Forbes said. "They have already beaten Clemson this year, so it will also be a good indication of how we can do in the conference. For our team to take a step forward, we must run Virginia Tech closely."
In addition, someone on the Duke team must step up to be the fifth runner. There is only a 40-second spread between the first through fourth runners, but the fifth runner must work to stay closer to this lead pack. Several runners have shown the potential to move up to this spot in practice.
Salume will likely be Duke's top runner, and after a fourth place finish in last year's race, she is looking to do even better at home this year.
"I feel confident about the race," Salume said. "We know the turns, where to cut corners and other strategies about running the course."
In terms of hosting the Yale runners, the coaches feel that it is a good opportunity to meet runners from a different atmosphere but a similar academic institution. The runners will have dinner together tonight and there will be a picnic for all the teams tomorrow after the race.
"It will be a chance for us to show [the Yale runners] some Southern hospitality," Forbes said.
The women's race will begin at 9:45 a.m., while the men's competition starts at 10:30 a.m. The start and finish of both races is at the 751 practice fields near the Duke Golf Club.
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