WINSTON-SALEM -- With two of its top three runners unable to perform up to their usual level due to injuries, it would have been easy for the men's cross country team to give up and run half-heartedly in the Atlantic Coast Conference meet at Wake Forest on Saturday.
Instead, though, sophomore Mike Park and freshman Tom Becker came through with gutsy performances to lead Duke to its best finish in the conference in 18 years.
Led by the 15th-place finish of Becker and the 16th-place showing by Park--the first time since 1977 that Duke has had two top-20 runners in the ACC meet--the Blue Devils took fifth place in the conference with 148 points. North Carolina State dominated the meet, scoring an ACC-record 18 points, and placing six runners among the top 10 in the conference. The Wolfpack had the top four finishers in the race, including ACC champion Pat Joyce.
"I'm so realistic that most times I'll settle for a realistic finish," head coach Al Buehler said. "I think that fifth is where we should be. We earned it through a different matchup of personnel."
With junior Darin Mellinger suffering from a knee injury, and freshman Colin Young still feeling the effects of a foot ailment, it took breakthrough performances by Park and junior Matt Haywood to allow Duke to move up two places from its finish last year.
After being the ninth-best Duke runner at the state meet two weeks ago, Park was not originally slated to be among the eight runners that the Blue Devils sent to Wake Forest for the conference championships. But after a sudden turnaround in practice after fall break, Park earned his spot on the team for the ACC meet.
"I have to say, I've never seen that kind of turnaround--from the ninth to the second man in one meet," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said. "Now he has to think big all the time."
When Park arrived at the course on Saturday morning, he was assigned race tag No. 20. In the back of his mind, Park hoped that this would be his place in the race. But Park actually came in four places higher than the number he wore during the race.
"I had to do it for the team, of course," Park said. "But I also had to do it for myself. I had to break this mental thing, so I just went out and tried to rip as hard as I could.
"It's all mental. In practice I've been doing pretty well, and it seems like I've been breaking down in the meets. Today I just kept telling myself, `Don't think about any other race. It's a clean slate."'
With about 200 meters left in the race, Park trailed a pair of UNC runners. Park was able to get past them to finish just behind Becker in 25:39.8.
Becker needed to use a strong kick to outduel his teammate and finish in 25:38.8. Although he appeared to run smoothly, Becker was in some pain because he had suffered leg cramps on Friday night.
"Becker had a super-gutsy performance because he did have a leg problem, so he couldn't finish his warm-up on the course [on Friday]," Ogilvie said. "He was brave enough to take ice baths for 30 minutes, using cold water to numb up his leg. He's a tough guy."
Even though he had a strong performance, especially for a freshman, Becker feels that he still has room to improve as a cross country runner.
"I was shooting for the top 10, and the guy who ran in eighth place ran 25:20, which is where I should have been," Becker said. "But all things considered, that was a pretty good run today, though. Even though it was 18 or 20 seconds off what I wanted to run, it was still a good run."
Haywood, who has been Duke's seventh runner most of the season, came through with his best race of the year, placing 33rd in 26:24.3. Senior captain Pat Neville (26:24.3) and junior Brett Marcus (26:33.3), ran their usual solid races for the Blue Devils, finishing 39th and 45th, respectively, and securing Duke's fifth-place showing.
Freshmen Scott Antoun (26:49.2) was 49th, and Young finished 57th in 27:29.6. Despite visibly limping in the final mile, Mellinger was able to place 50th in 26:54.7. Mellinger is normally one of Duke's top two runners, but his knee injury left him grimacing throughout Saturday's race.
"Darin basically hasn't run for two weeks," Ogilvie said. "You've got to give him credit. He did the best he could."
Going into the meet, the Blue Devils were hoping to place in the top four in the conference, and had Mellinger and Young not been injured, Duke would probably have finished ahead of third-place North Carolina and fourth-place Virginia.
"I was pleased that we jumped from seventh to fifth," Park said. "You can't really be disappointed when we've got things like [Mellinger's injury], where we really could have gotten fourth easily.
The Duke squad was also encouraged because seven of the eight runners who competed on Saturday will be back next season. So even though this was Duke's best performance in almost two decades, the Blue Devils, who until two years ago had been a perennial ACC doormat in cross country, are looking to continue to improve next year.
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