The men's cross country team has now achieved its second goal of the season-capturing the state title at the North Carolina Intercollegiates held at McAlpine Park in Charlotte.
The Blue Devils managed to do it quite easily, winning by their largest margin of victory with 29 points. Western Carolina was second with 104 points.
Duke accumulated this low score with the help of a 1-2-3 finish by its top three runners in the eight-kilometer race. Sophomore Tom Becker got his first collegiate victory by winning the meet in 24:58.
Charlie Kelly was the top freshman for the fourth time in as many meets, placing second with a time of 25:00 and senior Matt Haywood was right behind him in third with his time of 25:03.
"I can't recall the last time that's happened [finishing 1-2-3] at a big meet," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said. "The top three established control early and gave everyone confidence. We had three in the top five from the start and went into the lead for good in the last mile."
The next two Blue Devil runners to come across the line were freshman Tim Schafer, 10th in 25:22, and senior Darin Mellinger, 13th in 25:23. The top five Blue Devils were separated by only 25 seconds.
The sixth man for the Blue Devils was junior Mike Park, who finished in 17th place in 25:37, and senior Brett Marcus, who finished seventh for Duke and was 23rd overall in 25:46.
The times in the race signified an improvement by everyone who ran last year-Becker ran 25:20 in last year's meet, whereas this year, almost all of Duke's top five were under this time.
The win at the meet now brings the Blue Devils' Division I record to 21-2 with the two losses coming at the hands of top-ten ranked Notre Dame and Michigan.
Duke's performance thus far in the season has not gone unnoticed-the Blue Devils continue to receive votes in the national cross country poll, and with a strong showing at the Atlantic Coast Conference meet, they should break into the top 25.
"At ACCs, if we beat UNC and Clemson, we could move into the top 25-that's where we feel we belong, but we have to show it on the course, not on paper," Ogilvie said. "We have every reason to believe we can do that."
The Blue Devils now have two weeks to prepare for the conference meet, where their goal is to finish in the top three.
"We're looking forward to ACCs where we can show the rest of the country how good we really are," Ogilvie said.
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