The men's and women's track teams went into this weekend's ACC Championships knowing that a first-place finish was unrealistic. As it turned out, second through eighth places were not attainable either.
Following the conclusion of this weekend's meet at Virginia, both the men's and women's teams found themselves ranked last out of the nine teams that comprised the field. Florida State took the men's title with 201.5 points, while North Carolina scored 176.5 points to win the women's crown. Duke placed last with 10 and 18 points, respectively.
Men's coach Norm Ogilvie was not pleased with the result, but nonetheless remained optimistic given the performances of several individual runners.
"Of course it's [disappointing]," Ogilvie said. "We haven't placed last in a long time. We did not do the job that we were supposed to do as a team, but there were some people that definitely did their jobs."
Specifically, Ogilvie singled out the runners in the 800-meter and 1,500-meter races. In the 800 meters, senior Brendan Wells and sophomore Jon Amt ran personal bests of 1:51.63 and 1:51.73, respectively, to place seventh and eighth in the conference. Going into the race, neither was predicted to finish in the top 10.
Three Blue Devils placed in the top 10 of the 1,500-meter race, as Brendan Fitzgibbon took seventh, Casey Reardon placed eighth and Nick Schneider finished ninth. All three posted qualifying times for the IC4A Championships.
"Our team goal was to score in every event from 800 meters on up," Ogilvie said. "We did not do that. Some of our distance runners didn't perform quite as well as we had hoped for.
"We did not have a place goal--you don't inspire the troops by saying our goal is to place eighth."
Ogilvie cited injuries as a factor in the team's placement. He also remarked that Duke did not prioritize this particular meet, instead choosing to rest some athletes in preparation for the Penn Relays next weekend. In a conference as competitive as the ACC, Ogilvie noted, combining a dearth of scholarships with fluke injuries and young runners can leave a team at a severe disadvantage.
"A few years ago, we scored 50 points in the ACC Championships," he said. "The performances in this meet were superior time-wise, but the conference has continued to improve. Each school is putting more and more emphasis into track and field in scholarship dollars. We're not doing that, so it's hard for us to keep up."
Looking at her team's ninth-place finish, women's coach Jan Ogilvie also pointed out several individual accomplishments, most notably Megan Sullivan's fifth-place finish in the 1,500-meter run.
"Megan's time in the 1,500 was outstanding," Ogilvie said. "She came back for graduate school at Duke so that she could finish out her eligibility. To run 4:22.07 and put herself in contention for nationals is an outstanding achievement for her."
Ogilvie also complimented senior Kim Hanauer, who placed seventh in the hammer throw, and junior Jenna Turner, who finished second in the 400-meter hurdles.
"It's probably the best race that she has even run at Duke," Ogilvie said of Turner. "58.49 is a superb time, and many times places at the national championships."
Ogilvie said she was disappointed with her team's last-place finish, but noted the strength of the conference in which the Blue Devil women are competing.
"The ACC women's conference has gotten so incredibly strong over the last five years, that the better we get as a team, it doesn't necessarily show up in the point totals," she said.
However, Ogilvie did note that at the beginning of the season, she had hoped for her team to place anywhere from fifth to seventh in the conference. As the season has progressed, however, she has found that although some individuals are doing well, the team still has not met its potential.
"I can't come out of this meet with negative feelings," Ogilvie said. "I go into this meet knowing that we have some people that are competing at a very, very high level, but I also know that overall as a team we are not quite there yet."
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