Duke had an eventful weekend with both the men’s and women’s teams placing in the top five at the Roy Griak Invitational, and nine out of 11 Blue Devil women at the William & Mary Invitational taking top ten spots.
Despite the level of success experienced by the women’s team, head coach Kevin Jermyn said that not all its goals were achieved.
“We went out too conservatively so we got stuck in a lot of traffic and had too much trouble weeding through,” Jermyn said. “We still ran good, but we found out that if we run just good against this level of competition we won’t win. We need to go out and race great.”
Even though the team didn’t run as well as it wanted to, Jermyn did say there were still several high points in the meets.
“The highlight was Juliet [Bottorff’s] performance in Minnesota—she ran a really smart race, it was her highest level cross country performance,” Jermyn said. “Also we had a freshman [Rebecca Craigie] win the first college meet [the William & Mary Invitational] she ever ran.”
Regardless of the fact that the team fell slightly short of its goals, Jermyn feels that if his squad manages its time well over the next two weeks, the results could be substantial.
“If we do that, I think we have the ability to become one of the best teams we’ve ever had in Duke history,” Jermyn said.
For the men’s team, which won the title at the Roy Griak Invitational, it was an ideal meet.
“We thought we could win,” head coach Norm Ogilvie said. “I was telling them we have the ability to win this thing, but the coach saying it and doing it are two different things, and I was pleased with the way they responded.”
This ability was clearly shown as senior Bo Waggoner crossed the line with a 24:27 to take eighth place as an individual at the meet. Despite the fact that Waggoner actually placed higher last year, his time did improve at this year’s meet, showing the increased level of competition that was present this year.
Waggoner was not the only one who experienced a substantial improvement, however. Close behind him was junior Andrew Brodeur, who grabbed 12th with a time of 24:38.
“Andy Brodeur was 19th or 20th at the 5k mark, and everyone moved up, but he moved up dramatically. It was his best race ever,” Ogilvie said.
Brodeur’s performance was indicative of the rest of the Blue Devils, who started slow but finished strong in what Ogilvie called a “come-from-behind-win.”
“The key thing was in how well they closed the race,” Ogilvie said. “At the 5k mark, BYU was winning and we were in fourth, and that bodes well for the end of the year when the distance goes from 8k to 10k.”
Duke grabbed the title at the Roy Griak Invitational at the expense of second-place N.C. State, which pushed the Blue Devils to first in the Southeast Region of the NCAA. With only five weeks left until the ACC Championships, Ogilvie is happy with the increased expectations brought on by being in first.
“That’s a good thing,” Ogilvie said. “That’s what you want—you want to raise the bar.”
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