The coach lost his hair, but his squad rarely lost Saturday, as the women's swim team finished its season at .500 with a 150-91 victory over Davidson.
With the non-scholarship Blue Devils needing a win to improve their record to 5-5, Thompson shaved his head before their meet at the Duke Aquatic Center and then watched Duke capture all but two events despite several swimmers' illnesses.
In the men's meet, the Blue Devils lost 131-86 to fall to 1-9.
"We really didn't realize [a .500 record was a possibility] at the beginning of the season," said sophomore Betsy Stewart, who was one of three double winners for Duke. "But once we saw we had a chance, it was a great goal."
The team of Stewart, senior Heather Winter, freshman Paige Dommerich and sophomore Jennifer Lee won Saturday's opening race, the 400-yard medley relay, to give the Blue Devils an 11-0 lead, and they never trailed the rest of the meet.
Senior Jill Spitzfaden picked up her first of two victories in the next event, the 1000-yard freestyle, leading a Duke sweep of the top three spots.
Spitzfaden later captured the 500-yard freestyle in 5:08.24.
Junior Susan Keeler also won two races, the 200-yard and 100-yard freestyles. Stewart posted victories in both the 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard backstroke.
For the men, senior Chris Wise was the only double winner, capturing the 500 and 1000-yard freestyle events. Sophomore Jack Newhouse placed first in the 50-yard freestyle and classmate Matt Lynch took the 100-yard freestyle.
The Duke men host ACC foe Georgia Tech Friday at 2 p.m. in their final meet of the regular season. The women return to action Feb. 18-20 at the ACC Championship in College Park, Md., where they hope to make some noise.
"We prepared really, really well this year," Stewart said. "We had a great Florida trip [training during winter break].... We're hoping to go after some teams at ACCs."
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