In races marked by strong individual performances but disappointing team finishes, the men's and women's cross country teams placed third and fourth in their respective races at the NCAA Southeast Region Championships Saturday.
The third-place finish of the men's squad came after their scorers logged 115 points. Second-place William and Mary had 77, and N.C. State scored a mere 66, winning the meet.
Duke's top finisher was junior Chris Williams, who clocked in at sixth overall, breezing through the 10,000-meter course in 30:15:6.
"Chris set the tone from the beginning when he started off up at the front of the pack," head coach Norm Ogilvie said.
The next two Blue Devils to cross the finish line were Nick Schneider and Michael Hatch. The sophomore pair earned times of 30:35.6 and 30:39.7 and the 12th and 16th overall, respectively.
Senior captain Jared Moore took fourth for Duke in 31:09.3 and 36th place overall. Duke's final scorer was Ian Cronin, who came in 55th at the meet.
All-Southeast Region team honors went to Williams, Schneider, and Hatch.
The men's team was not among the top two teams at the Region Championships, which was its goal going into the meet, according to Ogilvie.
"We ran very well, but William & Mary ran a great race," Ogilvie said. "They exceeded our expectations."
The 14th-ranked women's team had two runners in the top ten, with freshmen Caroline Bierbaum and Clara Horowitz earning fourth and sixth overall on the strength of their 19:57.3 and 20:17.4 times on the 6-kilometer course. They were the first two freshmen in the entire meet to finish.
Fellow frosh Shannon Rowbury took third for the Blue Devils, traversing the course in just under 21 minutes.
Rowbury,
Sally Meyerhoff (21:07.4) and Laura Stanley (21:15.6) were the final Duke scorers, finishing 36th and 41st overall.
The Blue Devils' finish was not what they had hoped for, but not for lack of talent, head coach Jan Ogilivie said.
"Caroline and Laura still aren't 100 percent, but both ran very well," Jan Ogilvie said. "We still haven't hit on all cylinders in one weekend yet."
Despite the fact that the nationally ranked women's unit did not capture an automatic bid at the regional, Ogilvie is confident they will receive at-large bid when the selection committee makes its decisions today.
"We'll get in," she said. "There are 13 at-large bids, and we ought to get the fourth of those."
The top two teams at each regional meet are given automatic team bids at NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., Nov. 25th. Automatic individual bids are awarded to the top four finishers whose team is not going. Williams was given the fourth of these bids on the men's side and so far he, Bierbaum, Horowitz have automatically qualified.
"We feel great about Chris' chances." Ogilvie said "This will be Chris' third [trip to the national championships] in three years. He'll do very well."
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