The Blue Devils entered this weekend's race with hopes of earning an at-large bid. They barely escaped without a last-place finish.
In what was far and away its biggest challenge of the season so far, Duke failed to get out of the gates fast Saturday at the NCAA Pre-Nationals race in Terre Haute, Indiana. Competing in a field of 46 teams—10 of which were nationally ranked—the Blue Devils finished 41st overall. Colorado won the race, Oregon finished in second and Georgetown took third place.
“We were hoping for a top-15 finish, but we ran terribly—that’s the long and the short of it,” Ogilvie said. “We basically ran the same race that we ran at Virginia three weeks ago when we didn’t get out in the field, and when you don’t do that you’re dead in the water.”
Junior Blake Udland crossed the line first for the Blue Devils. The Short Hills, N.J., native clocked an 8K time of 25:44.4, earning him 142nd place. Senior Brian Schoepfer finished next at 210th with a time of 26:13.1. Junior Henry Farley, who recorded a time of 26:17.9, was the third Duke finisher, coming in at 220th place overall.
Finishing fourth for the Blue Devils was freshman Josiah Hanko, who clocked a time of 26:22.0 and earned 229th place overall. Junior William Rooney rounded out Duke’s top five – the Darien, Conn., native finished 237th overall with a time of 26:27.0.
Freshman Matt Luppino and sophomore Daniel Moore—both of whom were competing in their first Pre-Nationals race—finished sixth and seventh, respectively, for the Blue Devils. Luppino finished 252nd with a time of 26:34.0 and Moore ran a 27:20.1 to place 291st.
Duke needed a strong performance to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA national championship meet. The Blue Devils have qualified for this race in three of the previous five years, but fell short Saturday.
Ogilvie attributed the team’s weak performance to a failure to get out quickly at the beginning of the race.
“In the first mile we were in the back half of the field -- there was nobody in the front at all,” Ogilvie said. “Everyone seemed to be satisfied with running in the back half. If we run hard and are competitive early and run out of gas at the end, that’s something that we can work on, but we have to show some courage.”
The muddy condition of the La Vern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course only augmented the importance of getting off to fast start. Not much passing was able to occur in the latter half of the race.
The Blue Devils, who graduated six of their top seven performers from last year, have struggled to find leadership this season.
“Do our guys let down emotionally because they don’t have a leader out there? That’s a difficult question that we’ll never be able to answer," Ogilvie said. "Nonetheless, I think our guys know that they’re better and we’re searching desperately to find an answer. The juniors have been thrust into a role of carrying the team and they really have very little experience.”
Despite a less-than-impressive showing Saturday, Duke's future looks bright. Two redshirted runners are running well and are in position to make a big impact on the team next season.
“The silver lining in the cloud is that Shaun Thompson is in the best shape of his life. Steven Shine is rounding into good shape,” Ogilvie said. “What we have to do now is recruit well and get these guys better.”
The Blue Devils next run Oct. 31, when they will travel to Charlottesville, Va., for the ACC Championships.
“We’re not going to change anything too drastically. We’re going to run a little less mileage, run a little more speed work—just your typical preparation process," Ogilvie said. "We’re going to start the peaking process over the next two weeks and see what we can come up with at ACCs.”
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