Although it will not become official until later today, the men's cross country team earned a berth into the NCAA National meet via its fourth-place performance in the NCAA Regional Meet, held this past Saturday at Furman University. At-large bids are determined by a formula, and Duke will receive either the sixth or seventh at-large bid to the national competition.
"It was a landmark day for us," men's coach Norm Ogilvie said. "Our number one, two, four, five, six and seven runners each ran the best times that those number runners ever have for us. It was our best day ever on that course, a course we have been running for over 20 years."
Finishing first for Duke and second overall was senior captain Sean Kelly. For the second year in row, Kelly was the top runner from the ACC. With a time of 30:21, he finished 24 seconds faster than last year and projects to be an All-American in the National meet.
Sophomore Chris Williams finished sixth overall in 30:35, by far the best race of his career. Running ten seconds faster than last year, Williams has an outside shot at also becoming an All-American.
The tandem of Michael Hatch and Jared Moore came in 21st and 22nd, respectively, with times of 31:10 and 31:22. Hatch's race was the fastest ever by a Duke freshman running at Furman. Senior Jim Martin was the fifth man, scoring with the team for the first time in his career.
"It was a great cap to his cross country career," said Ogilvie of Martin's 31:48 performance.
The team did all this without direct contributions from two if their best runners, freshmen Nick Schneider and Robert Smitson. Earlier this season Schneider and Smitson were the number two and three runners, but both have suffered injuries. Schneider is done for the cross country season with shin splints, while Smitson separated his shoulder last week, and was held to finishing sixth for Duke.
"Other guys who were unsung heroes earlier this season really stepped up. It is a great tribute to these guys," Ogilvie said.
Four Duke runners--the most ever--finished in the top 25 and earned All-Region status.
The women's cross country team, on the other hand, had another disappointing day, finishing in fifth place. Although its best runner, junior Sheela Agrawal, was redshirted this year, the team still expected to make Nationals.
"We had the talent to make it even without Sheela," coach Jan Samuelson-Ogilvie said. "But we had some unfortunate things happen. Senior Maddy Woodmansee had to drop out with a side cramp, and everyone did not run their best times."
Finishing first again was freshman Paige Miller, who recorded a time of 22:23, good enough for 21st overall. Immediately behind Miller was fellow freshman Paris Edwards (22:25), and only five seconds later, a third freshman, Meaghan Leon, finished in 26th place. Rounding out Duke's top five were senior captain Katie Atlas (40th, 22:50) and sophomore Heidi Hullinger (53rd, 23:12).
"Those three freshmen have been numbers one-two-three for us all year, and that is a lot to ask of inexperienced runners," Samuelson-Ogilvie said. "We knew what we had to do; we just couldn't finish it off."
Despite their disappointment, the women will still return an extremely talented squad next year.
"We just have to look forward to the ECAC Championships next weekend, where we should realistically win," Samuelson-Ogilvie said. "We are getting ready for indoor track, which starts in December and taking this fall season as a lesson to our young runners: Don't let this happen again."
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