The men's and women's cross country squads sent their B-teams to the Bronx, N.Y., this weekend to race in the historic IC4A/ECAC Cross Country Championships. The two races, which used to crown the nation's top men's and women's team, respectively, are now overshadowed by the NCAA Championship meet but still host the best of the rest from the east.
Senior Michael Hatch ran in his last cross country race for Duke and led the Blue Devils with a third-place finish on the five-mile course in 25:01. The No. 2 runner on the varsity team, Hatch did not qualify for the national title race but still had the chance to close out his career in a championship meet.
Two miles into the race, Hatch and an elite pack of three other runners pulled away. Hatch and Peter Hess of Maryland fell behind the top two runners in the middle stages of the race, but the Blue Devil made a move on Cemetery Hill, a large steep slope four miles into the race.
In the last quarter-mile stretch, Hatch distanced himself from Hess and caught up to Yale's Casey Moriarty, the defending champion. In the final meters, Moriarty and Hatch sprinted desperately to the finish line while watching the clock in hopes of finishing under 25 minutes, a feat that earns the runner a spot in the course's record book. But the Blue Devil finished two paces behind Moriarty, who also missed the target time.
The men's team placed 14th among a field of 20 teams and Hatch earned All-East honors for his top-15 finish.
The highlight for the women's team was junior Liz Wort's fourth-place finish on the 5-kilometer course in 17:57. Wort ran among a lead pack of four runners for the majority of the race. With about 100 meters left, Wort took the lead on an uphill slope but could not hold on as three runners out-kicked her on the final downhill stretch.
Wort earned All-East honors along with teammates Elle Pishny, who placed 11th, and Paris Edwards, who finished 12th. The women's team did not send enough runners to be scored as a team.
The team focus in now on today's NCAA Championship races in Terre Haute, Ind. The No. 5 women's team aims to earn a trophy by placing among the top four teams. Shannon Rowbury and Sally Meyerhoff will first and foremost look to earn a team trophy, but they will also strive to earn All-American honors in the process by finishing among the top 30 American runners.
"We've been doing so well, so we're going about it the same way," head coach Kevin Jermyn said of the team's preparation for the upcoming meet. "It's a little extra bonus race."
Nick Schneider will be the sole representative of the Duke men's team and has a clear-cut individual goal of being named an All-American. On the same course, Schneider finished 16th among American runners at the Oct. 16 Pre-Nationals meet, which featured all but three of the nation's top teams. The performance, which head coach Norm Ogilvie called Schneider's best race of the season, led Ogilvie to believe that Schneider is among the top 25 American runners in the nation.
"One thing is for certain: It's his last cross country meet and he's going to lay it all out on the line," Ogilvie said.
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