Women’s head coach Christine Engel will see the first real test of her effort to rebuild a healthy Duke squad this weekend as the regular season begins.
Going up against some of the nation’s best competition, the Blue Devils will head to Boston Friday for the Battle in Beantown. No. 16 Boston College will host more than 20 teams at Franklin Park, including five others ranked in the nation’s top 25— No. 1 Michigan, No. 5 Georgetown, No. 15 Syracuse, No. 18 Providence and No. 25 Dartmouth.
“It is a super-competitive meet, one of the best in the country this weekend, for sure,” Engel said.
Duke will race 5,000 meters for the first time this season, slowly building up toward the 6,000-meter postseason race volume. A strong performance Friday would be a confidence boost for the Blue Devils as they begin to shift focus from daily goals to championship hopes. Outscoring teams outside the Southeast region in regular season meets will increase Duke’s chances of achieving its postseason goal—a national championship berth.
Following her first-place finish at the Virginia Duals, sophomore Wesley Frazier earned the first ACC Cross Country Performer of the Week honor earlier this month and set an competitive tone for the season. With Frazier leading the way, Duke will look to continue its healthy start to the campaign.
Racing in a meet new to the schedule this year and traveling without the men’s team, the Blue Devils will have an opportunity to capitalize on the fresh start Engel has provided. The squad has worked hard to regain confidence and team chemistry and is ready to show Duke’s potential as a healthy, more positive team.
“They have been doing a much better job of training with each other,” Engel said. “I think with each week of training, their confidence is getting higher.”
On the men’s side, the Blue Devils will open the regular season in Charlottesville, Va., at the Panorama Farms Invitational.
Junior Blake Udland led the team across the line at the James Madison Invitational earlier this month, finishing second overall, and will look to make a key contribution to Duke’s score Friday. Udland fell just short of scoring position in last season's Panorama Invite, where the Blue Devils took fourth.
Head coach Norm Ogilvie stressed the importance of this meet as an opportunity for the Blue Devils to become familiar with the same course that will be used for the ACC Championships in late October. Duke traveled to Charlottesville in late August for the preseason Virginia Duals, but this meet will give the Blue Devils a look at a longer course as they race 8,000 meters for the first time this season.
Ogilvie said he hopes that by familiarizing his squad with the course, Duke will be more comfortable and confident heading into the conference championships with stronger competition than last season. The ACC replaced Maryland—now a member of the Big Ten—with a faster Louisville squad this season, meaning Duke will be challenged to improve upon last year’s sixth-place team finish.
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