Taking to the course in cold and rainy weather, true cross country conditions, according to Duke coach Norm Ogilvie, both the men's and women's cross country teams finished fourth overall at the Notre Dame Invitational Friday.
In the women's race, second-ranked Notre Dame finished first overall, followed by No. 20 Wake Forest, and Penn State, ranked 17th. Duke finished fourth, a place above No. 25 Washington.
The fourth-place Blue Devil placement was fueled by sophomore Natasha Roetter's sixth-place finish. Roetter paced the team with a 17:41 time on the 5k course, followed by classmate Laura Stanley who finished 11th in 17:53. Ogilvie was satisfied with these top two womens performances.
"The top-two women were especially exciting," Ogilvie said. "They both ran outstanding races."
Following the two sophomores was junior Paige Miller, crossing the line in 18:04 for a 25th-place finish. Miller has struggled with injuries for the last year, so Ogilvie was pleased to see her running again.
Finishing up the Blue Devil scoring were sophomore Shannon Rowbury in 18:15 for 34th, and senior Lauren Matic running an 18:50 to clinch a 66th-place finish.
Still, the women have yet to compete with an entire stacked team. The first time for this will be in two weeks at the Pre-NCAA meet in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
On the men's side, two top-ten finishes on the 8k course helped to secure Duke's fourth place finish as a team. Junior Nick Schneider finished fifth overall in 24:41, for his first career No. 1 one-team finish. This placement showed his potential for the ACC title, Ogilvie said.
"Schneider is a force to be reckoned with," Ogilvie said.
Junior Michael Hatch was right behind in 24:45 for an eighth-place finish. According to Ogilvie, this performance was the best race of his career.
Two freshmen stepped up to finish third and fourth for the team. Keith Krieger ran a 25:26 for a 35th-place finish and Dan Daly came in 51st with a time of 25:37. Krieger finished second overall for freshmen.
Coming in 88th, sophomore Chas Salmen rounded out the Blue Devil scoring with a time of 25:48.
In team competition, host team Notre Dame, 25th in the nation, clinched the win. Following the Fighting Irish were No. 12 Michigan in second, and 29th-ranked Easter Michigan in third. With Duke's fourth-place finish, it cruised by seventh-ranked Central Michigan, which finished in 15th place.
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