Fitzgibbon, Becker propel Duke to third-place finish

To most people, one minute is not enough time to do much of anything. To cross-country runners, however, sixty seconds is an eternity.

With a slight change in his strategy, freshman Brendan Fitzgibbon lopped almost a minute off his time recorded two weeks ago at Notre Dame to finish eighth in 25:15.9 among 112 runners at the IC4A Men's Cross-Country meet held in the Bronx on Friday.

Fitzgibbon's performance, along with junior Tom Becker's fifth-place finish in 25:11.0, propelled Duke to a third-place finish with 124 points, behind champion Princeton (49), and Iona (63).

"I felt it was probably my best race of the season," Fitzgibbon said. "It gave me a lot of confidence, because I was running with a lot of the top runners in the northeast. I didn't start off like the Notre Dame race. I took it out comfortably, but then I just moved my way up throughout the race."

At Notre Dame, Fitzgibbon took off with the lead pack, which included Becker, Duke's top runner, and eventually faded down the stretch, finishing fifth among Duke runners.

Sophomore Charlie Kelly, running in only his first race with the 'A' squad following last year's season-ending injury, finished fifth on his team, completing the eight-kilometer course in 26:13.4.

"He looked great for being in the shape that he was in," Fitzgibbon said. "Three weeks ago, he wasn't running at all. I feel confident that he can run a lot better once he starts getting in better shape."

Senior Mike Park finished 21st overall and 3rd on the team with a time of 25:35.5.