Stephen Githuka was as good as advertised, but then again, so were the Blue Devils.
Githuka blazed through the East Campus course in 23:07, easily winning the individual title Saturday. It didn't matter, though, since he had to wait almost two minutes at the finish line before he could say 'hi' to one of his teammates. Duke runners took the next 10 spots and went on to win their only home meet of the year, 20-42.
"We told them to have a healthy respect for [Githuka]-not to concede the race, because that's why they run the races," volunteer coach Art Smith said. "I'm happy with how they responded to him. And all you can do is tip your hat to him, he's a good runner."
Good might be understating Githuka's race. After running with the lead pack for the first mile and a half of the five-mile race, Githuka broke away from the pack using the trademark Kenyan surge technique, where he would go on a series of five-yard sprints.
Githuka's run was good enough to set a new course record for the East Campus course and beat the second-place runner, Duke's Terry Brennan, by almost 30 seconds across the finish line.
"I thought out the race a little more than I usually do," said Brennan on the preparation for a runner like Githuka. "I looked forward to the challenge-actually, he more than challenged me, he kicked my butt."
Brennan, however, has been doing a little rear-end kicking of his own lately, as he finished first among Duke runners for the second week in a row with a time of 23:45.
"I never want to say I'm happy when I lose," Brennan said. "But I'm satisfied with how I ran."
Brennan, in fact, led a group of three Duke sophomores across the finish line. Brendan Fitzgibbon and Mike McKeever took third and fourth places, in 24:00 and 24:07.
Freshman Sean Kelly, fresh off winning the Fordham Invitational men's freshman race a week earlier, finished fifth at 24:08. And for the second consecutive week, three-time cross country MVP and senior Tom Becker finished fifth on his team.
"Our younger guys are gaining more experience," Smith said. "But I think you'll see Tom improve. I'm sure he's happy with how the team's doing, but he's a competitive guy. He's certainly not running any worse than he did last year."
Smith was certainly right, since Becker actually improved from his time last year on the same course by more than 20 seconds. It was Brennan who made the biggest stride from last season, shaving almost 40 seconds off his time of 24:22.
But should this trend of Becker finishing fifth on the team continue, it certainly speaks well to the team's overall strength and depth: two areas where the Blue Devils emphatically demonstrated their strength to Liberty over the weekend.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.