The men's cross country team placed fourth out of 30 teams at the NCAA Southeast Regional in Greenville, N.C., Saturday.
William and Mary, Virginia and N.C. State took the top three spots, respectively, to knock Duke out of the running completely for a bid to the NCAA Championships.
Champion William and Mary and runner-up Virginia will both automatically advance in the team competition.
Head coach Norm Ogilvie, however, said he was not at all disappointed that the team was unable to secure a berth to the NCAA Championships.
"We definitely achieved our goal for today," Ogilvie said. "Coming in, most polls had put us in eighth and we came out fourth. I'm extremely happy with the results. We're peaking right when we wanted to."
Junior Keith Krieger led the Blue Devils with a 10th place finish time of 30:23.5 on the 10K course. Krieger missed earning an individual berth to the NCAA Championships by three runners.
"This was definitely his best race as a Duke cross country athlete," Ogilvie said. "I thought he ran a fantastic race today."
Krieger dropped 34 seconds off his previous performance at the NCAA Southeast Regional on the same course he earned 20th place a year ago.
Ogilvie also noted that the Blue Devils' next three finishers-Dan Daley, who placed 33rd in 31:12.1, freshman Geary Grubbins, who placed 43th in 31:31.8 and freshman Kevin McDermott, who placed 57th in 31:52.5-all had "career type days" Saturday.
These performances were able to help Duke edge out ACC opponent Wake Forest by an 18-point margin. The Demon Deacons finished one spot ahead of the Blue Devils' fifth place showing at the ACC Championships Oct. 31, but were seventh overall this weekend.
With the NCAA Championships out of reach, the Blue Devils' top 12 harriers will compete at the IC4A Championships in New York Nov. 19.
"Our goal is to win the IC4A Championships," Ogilvie said. "It's never been done in Duke history, and I think we've got the team to do it."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.