The Blue Devil senior runners have been waiting their whole careers to get their team back on top. They believe this year holds the promise of a return to glory and a secured spot among the powerhouse programs, as they were in 2004 and 2005 when they finished second in the nation.
"We came in our freshman year when the team was ranked first in the country," senior Patricia Loughlin said. "That was pretty intimidating coming in as a freshman and seeing that we had six seniors and five of them were All-Americans and just kind of on a different level. Getting to see that day-in and day-out was an inspiration and how much fun they were having and how driven they were.
"I feel like that same kind of momentum is back with us. We have a great group of older girls and a great group of freshmen that just seem very excited about where we're at and having fun. Everyone is pretty inspired to do the things day-in and day-out to see what we can do."
Eight seniors will try to instill that same work ethic-that drive to see what they can do-in the 10 incoming freshman, nine of whom were recruited. With a team loaded with upperclassmen, Duke feels its experience will be a real ace up its sleeve in the upcoming season.
"Last year we had, on an individual level, a lot of athletes have great breakthroughs and have high levels of performance," head coach Kevin Jermyn said. "We return our entire group of leaders from the previous year, so we feel that we're a group that is ready for a pretty major step forward from where we were last year, and I certainly think that we have the potential to be right where we were, competition-wise, as two to three years ago. Our goals are pretty high since we're coming off a season with great positive momentum."
The positive vibes that have been flowing throughout the preseason have given all the Blue Devils sound mental health. But perhaps more importantly, they are physically healthy as well. All 23 athletes in the preseason camp are running and training-not one is sitting out with an injury.
Jermyn said it is the healthiest start Duke has had in years.
And leading the charge, at least on the trail, will be a junior, not a senior.
Maddie McKeever, who finished 21st last year at the NCAA championships, exemplifies the type of work ethic and veteran leadership Jermyn wants out of his upperclassmen leaders-and perhaps even the type of guidance he saw from his leaders when the Blue Devils sat atop the national rankings.
"As a coach, I feel very fortunate to have an experienced group of leaders who I trust, and I think that they are going to do a fine job of leading this team to great results and also have a really fun season," Jermyn said. "We're going to aim big, but we've got to train smart and have fun every step of the way."
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