When heading into an athletic competition, rarely do two opposing teams spend time together before their event. However, the men's and women's cross country teams not only spend time with their Yale counterparts before their annual meet-they spend the night with them.
Now in its fifth year for the men and its fourth year for the women, a unique "runner-exchange" program is taking place between the Blue Devils and the Bulldogs.
"Imagine the Duke and Carolina football teams staying together in the same hotel and spending time together before the game-it just wouldn't happen," men's coach Al Buehler said. "But it can happen in track and field."
Several years ago, Buehler and Yale coach Steve Bartold had the idea to have a dual meet between two high academic, non-scholarship schools such as Duke and Yale, and have the students host the runners of the opposing team to save on the cost of hotels. The schools alternate where they run each year, and this year, the Blue Devils will head to New Haven to take on the Bulldogs in a meet on the Yale Golf Course.
On the men's side, the Blue Devils are looking to avenge last year's close loss at home. Prior to that, the home team had always won on its respective course. Yale now leads the series 3-1 and is in possession of the Duke-Yale Cup, a trophy that is given to the winner of the meet each year.
"We want to bring [the cup] back home this year," men's assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said.
The men will look to do that by using a combination of experienced runners and talented freshmen. Senior Darin Mellinger nearly won the meet as a sophomore, and after a successful track season last spring, should once again be in the front pack. Seniors Brett Marcus and Matt Haywood are also two runners who have had the experience of running at Yale, and both have improved from their track seasons.
"[Mellinger, Marcus and Haywood] all qualified for [the Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association of America meet] in track last season, and we've never had that before for cross country," Ogilvie said.
Three sophomores and three freshmen will join these three seniors. Sophomore Tom Becker was the team's MVP last year and was also an IC4A qualifier in track. He is joined by classmates Colin Young and Scott Antoun.
Freshman Charlie Kelly was the Blue Devils' top runner at their first meet of the season, not far from winning the race. The coaches are looking for both Kelly and Becker to run with Yale's top runners. Freshmen Tim Schaefer and Brian McCulley will also run for the Blue Devils.
"We have plenty of depth and talent, but we need our guys up front doing it," Ogilvie said. "If we run to our potential, we should beat Yale, but we need to earn that win."
The women's team will take eight runners to Yale-senior Kirsten Black, junior Erin Fleming, sophomore Kim Folk and freshmen Kourtney Gallo, Mary Beth Gregorski, Liz Kane, Camille Wilson and Becky Price.
Almost all of these runners have parents or family members coming to watch the meet, and head coach Mike Forbes is excited about the potential of having a home meet atmosphere despite being so far away.
"Kids will get to have their parents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters come to watch, and we're looking forward to that-it will give us an emotional lift," Forbes said.
The Blue Devils feel they have a good chance to win the meet, which they have done for the last two years. To do this, the coaches are looking for the top four runners to close a 20-second gap between them to 10 seconds, and to move the next four runners to within 30 seconds of each other. Although Fleming is the only Blue Devil to have run the course before, Forbes said the team has had two good weeks of practices and is ready for the meet.
Following the meet, there will be a tailgate party for the athletes and their families, and then the runners have the option of attending the Yale-Connecticut football game with their hosts. Saturday evening the Blue Devils will go to a reception being held by Stan Wheeler, the father of former Duke runner Steve Wheeler. The reception is for both teams and coaches, and following it, the athletes will again spend the night with the Bulldog runners before heading back to Durham the next morning.
"Most teams usually keep their athletes separate, but this is what things used to be like years ago," Buehler said.
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