This past Saturday at the Three Stripe Invitational, graduate student Cydney Ross led the Blue Devils to a first-place finish as she ended her Duke cross country career.
Ross, whose primary strength lies in the 800m on the track, surprised her coaches, her teammates and herself when she blazed across the line in 18:03, shattering her previous personal record by about 1:40.
“It’s bittersweet,” Ross said. “I’ve definitely struggled with cross country over the years... but this year we switched some of my training up, and I’ve been going in with a different mentality for racing. It’s nice to finish my last race with a huge [personal record] and a win.”
After Ross ran through the line in first, junior Dana Morin and sophomore Abby Farley did not take long to follow her across, finishing in 18:25 and 18:28, respectively. Freshman Olivia Anderson came in next for Duke, taking fifth overall. Senior Adrianne Soo and junior Ashley Berry rounded out the rest of the Duke contingent as they crossed the line within a second of each other, finishing in 19:21 and 19:22, respectively.
“We had a lot of good runs. A lot of people seemed happy about how they did,” head coach Kevin Jermyn said. “For most of them it was the last race of their cross country season so it was good for them to finish on a positive note. Cydney had a really good day... now that I think she’s got this extra confidence of excelling a cross country race that’s really going to help her move forward.”
The meet in Cary was Soo’s last meet as well, though it did not go quite as she had hoped. Soo has been struggling since her knee surgery and the hilly course did not help her overcome the pain.
Despite the fact that the upperclassmen were wrapped up in the emotions that come with ending their time on the team, they were still able to provide the type of leadership that “bring[s] up the excitement, the focus [and] the commitment levels,” Jermyn said. Ross mentioned that even while she was running the fastest race of her life, she was making sure to encourage her teammates and draw them along with her as she pushed ahead of the pack.
“Our race strategy was to run fast for two miles and run in a pack,” Ross said. “I was pushing the pace... saying ‘Come on ladies, we can do this’ and having some positive talk throughout the race.”
For Ross, encouraging her teammates, even during a tough race, was part of being a member of the team.
“[Being part of this has] made my Duke career,” Ross said. “I can’t imagine being at Duke without these women and training with them every day and having the best friends I could have made.”
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