The women's cross country team completed its best season in school history with a runner-up finish in the NCAA Cross Country Championships Monday. A trio of Blue Devils earned All-American, and Sally Meyerhoff led the team with a 16th-place finish. Meaghan Leon heard the voice of head coach Kevin Jermyn screaming through the crowd at the NCAA Cross Country Championships as she spotted the finish line.
Four Blue Devils had already crossed the line, and Jermyn thought Leon's kick would make the difference between second and third place for Duke.
"I got to about 200 meters left and heard my coach yelling, 'You have to pass 20 people,' and I just tried to finish strong," Leon said.
The senior sprinted by 20 people over the final meters to lock up a second-place finish for the Blue Devils on a course described as "a quagmire of mud." The Duke women's cross country team completed its best season in school history by finishing runner-up at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., Monday.
At the halfway point, the Blue Devils were in third place behind the eventual champion Colorado and defending champion Stanford. Powering through thick mud left by evening and morning rain showers, the Duke harriers showed their strength by surging ahead in the second half of the race. Norm Ogilvie, director of track and field, said Leon's performance was the boost the Blue Devils needed.
"Our normal five and six runners weren't running up to par, so we really needed Meaghan to step it up, and she did a wonderful job," Ogilvie said. "She was kind of the hero of the day." The Blue Devils never challenged for the title as Colorado dominated the event, placing three of its runners in the top 10. The Blue Devils edged out Providence for second, and Notre Dame and Stanford finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Junior Sally Meyerhoff crossed the tape 16th, followed by Shannon Rowbury in 27th. Meyerhoff emerged as the leader of the Duke squad with an individual title at the ACC Championships Oct. 30 after consistently finishing behind Rowbury throughout the season. After earning the ACC Championship and an NCAA Regional title, the Blue Devils came into the race ranked fifth in the nation. With the recent return of junior Clara Horowitz, however, Duke was poised to earn one of the trophies awarded to the top four teams.
"We were fifth in the nation," Ogilive said. "So we knew we could compete for a trophy and to do that we had to exceed expectations."
Starting the 6-kilometer race at an aggressive pace, the Blue Devils demonstrated they intended to compete with the top teams. Six of the seven Duke competitors began the race inside the top 40 and tried to maintain this position as the competition progressed.
"It was a very muddy endurance race," Jermyn said. "We did a good job of holding position toward the front."
Meyerhoff pulled ahead for the Blue Devils in the first several kilometers and finished with a time of 20:50.
"A few of us Duke girls got out towards the front at the beginning," Meyerhoff said. "At the second big loop I made my first move to try to stay with the front of the pack and made my second big move with 1,000 meters to go. The last straightaway was a gradual uphill and it was difficult, but I just tried to pass as many people as I could."
Meyerhoff, Rowbury and Horowitz, who finished 29th, all earned All-Amerian honors for their performances in the championships. Horowitz and Rowbury are All-Americans in track. Natasha Roetter finished 45th, and Leon surged late to complete the race in 89th.
"I think the field went out too aggressively," Jermyn said. "If we had started out at a more moderate pace we might have closed the gap on first, but [Colorado] ran so well I don't think we could have beaten them. I am proud of the girls for keeping up with such a competitive pace on such a difficult course."
Ogilvie credited Jermyn's coaching as the factor that moved the Blue Devils, who were unranked at the start of the season, into the national title picture. Jermyn earned both ACC Cross Country Coach of the Year and Southeast Regional Coach of the Year accolades. A second-place finish at the national championship race seems a fitting end for a Duke women's cross country team that has exceeded expectations all season.
"We were so excited we started screaming and jumping up and down," Meyerhoff said. "We proved that we were in the position where everyone thought we could be."
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