The Blue Devils who aren’t participating in the NCAA Regionals have finished their season with bang this weekend.
Half of the Duke runners competed for the last time this season in the Three Stripe Invitational at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., Saturday while the rest of the team will be readying for next week's NCAA Regional Championship.
Running against ACC foes North Carolina and N.C. State this week, Duke’s runners had some added incentive to shoot for their personal bests.
“This is almost like a preview of next season," Duke head coach Norm Ogilvie said. "Who’s the future of Duke track? Who’s the future of N.C. State cross-country, UNC cross-country? It was exciting for us to see who wants to be our leaders next year.”
Freshman Stephen Shine finished with a time of 15:10.74, which gave him his second individual win of the season. The Blue Devils were able to sweep the top three spots in the invitational, and received a team win with a total of 24 points.
Sophomore runners Eddie Merenda and Blake Udland rounded out the top three. Merenda finished with a time of 15:18.31 and Udland with a time of 15:24.01.
Junior Nate McClafferty was able to break his personal best record by a whopping 25 seconds from last years Three Stripe Invitational. He finished in sixth overall, completing the race's 5,000 meters in 15:39.48.
“They all ran really well," Ogilvie said. "We’ve had three or four personal bests [Saturday] over the 5K distance and we’re really happy with it.”
The women’s team was also able to sweep the top three places as sophomore Madison Granger came away with a first-place finish and a time of 18:00.42. Granger was followed by her Blue Devil teammates, graduate student Sophia Ziemian and senior Dana Morin.
With all of their top runners sitting out in preparation for the NCAA Regional Championships, this race provided a look to the future for both the men's and women's teams.
"We have five seniors and two juniors, so five of those guys aren’t going to be back next year," Ogilvie said. "We needed today to find five guys that can replace them next season. We think we have a good group.”
The Blue Devils will resume the championship portion of their schedule Friday when the team heads to Charlottesville, Va., for the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship.
“These guys have practiced well," Ogilvie said. "They’re just resting now, ready to give a supreme effort and make the NCAA [Championships]."
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