The top-ranked women's cross country team defended its ACC Championship title Monday by placing seven harriers in the top 11.
Duke's 20 points matched the lowest score ever recorded at the ACC Championships, which were held in Tallahassee, Fla. The 71-point gap between the Blue Devils and runner-up N.C. State was the widest the meet has ever seen.
Duke outran five other nationally ranked squads in No. 9 N.C. State, No. 12 Wake Forest, No. 14 Boston College, No. 19 Virginia and No. 25 North Carolina.
"We ran against very strong competition," head coach Kevin Jermyn said. "I think it's the strongest it's ever been [at the ACC Championships], and we've never come in as the favorites before, and we're very happy with how we did."
The Blue Devils placed an ACC-record seven runners-six of them seniors-on the all-conference team, which is comprised of the top 14 finishers.
Senior Shannon Rowbury won the 6-kilometer race in 19:03.2 to record her first ACC cross country title.
Although Wake Forest senior Annie Bersagel led the field for the majority of the race, Rowbury and fellow senior Clara Horowitz took over the pace at the 5K mark.
Rowbury's victory marked her third in four races this season, and the second time that a Blue Devil has won an ACC cross country individual title. Senior Sally Meyerhoff won the race in 2004, while Rowbury finished fourth.
"Last year she was one of our top runners in the first half of the season," Jermyn said of Rowbury. "This year she's started out a little slower with a different race plan. She's in better shape and in better form. We've found what race strategy works well for her body type."
Anderson also claimed an individual award, garnering ACC Freshman of the Year honors. The Breckenridge, Colo. native, was the only freshman to place higher than 14th in the meet.
"She ran a lot better than any of us expected against that type of competition," Jermyn said. "She really stepped it up. She's mixing in with a lot of top runners and she's doing remarkably well. She was ecstatic."
Anderson finished 2.2 seconds behind N.C. State's Jemissa Hess and three seconds ahead of Bersagel, both of whom have previously competed at the NCAA Championships.
Four other seniors scored for the Blue Devils. Laura Stanley placed sixth with a 19:34.2 time, followed closely by Meyerhoff with a 19:39.8 time. Liz Wort and Natasha Roetter placed ninth and eleventh with times of 19:40.5 and 19:44.6, respectively.
Jermyn said that he is still deciding which Blue Devils will compete in the upcoming Southeast Regional Championships Nov. 12, during which the team will be able to qualify for the NCAA Championships Nov. 21 in Terre Haute, Ind.
"We're running an unattached meet next weekend to help in finalizing the roster," Jermyn said. "When we get to Regionals, we're hoping to peak around that time."
Duke will compete in the Wolfpack Invitational hosted by N.C. State, Nov. 5, in Cary, N.C.
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