The Blue Devils will hope for a stronger championship performance next weekend after a disappointing finish in Charlottesville, Va., Friday.
In the first of its two championship meets this season, Duke took 10th on the women’s side and 12th on the men’s side at the ACC Championships, falling short of expectations to finish in the top half of the conference.
The Blue Devils entered the final stretch of the season two weeks after discouraging team finishes at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational and NCAA Pre-Nationals event.
“You can’t have confidence when you haven’t run well,” director of track and field Norm Ogilvie said. “Our staff and I did our best to build confidence for them heading into the ACC Championships, and we rested them sufficiently heading into this meet.”
Confidence had been a key factor for Duke since the beginning of the season, with both squads facing holes in their roster. On the men’s side, Brian Atkinson and Mike Moverman graduated, and Shaun Thompson elected to redshirt this season. The trio turned in the Blue Devils’ top three scoring runs in almost every race of the 2013 season.
The women opened the season without Juliet Bottorff—the 2013 ACC Champion and Duke’s lone qualifier for the 2013 NCAA Championships—and with an unfamiliar face at the helm. Assuming her role as women’s head coach shortly before the team returned to campus in August, Christine Engel was challenged to put back together a squad devastated by illness, injury and high expectations last season. Hoping to rebuild team confidence, Engel has encouraged her athletes to focus on running as a team and has worked to foster a positive training environment.
The Blue Devils hoped to produce strong performances this post season despite these changes, but the squad expected too much from a season of rebuilding.
Ogilvie hoped his junior class would fill the big shoes of Atkinson, Moverman and Thompson—a tall order for six juniors, with only Blake Udland boasting ACC Championship experience.
Junior William Hague stepped up for the squad Friday, leading the Blue Devils across the line in 49th place with a time of 24:35.8. Three weeks earlier, Hague had been hospitalized for heat exhaustion after an aggressive start in his 8,000-meter race at the Royals Challenge. The junior rebounded and raced with purpose in his conference championship debut.
Senior Brian Shoepfer crossed the line in 57th, followed by Udland in 61st. Senior Phil Fairleigh and freshman Matt Luppino rounded out Duke’s scoring five, finishing in 69th and 85th.
“Obviously we have had a rough season,” Ogilvie said. “We were going to the line without last season’s really good people. But we had good races from our top four.”
On the women's side, in her final conference championship event, graduate student Jesse Rubin set the pace for the Blue Devils. After running the 6,000-meter course in 21:18.1, Rubin placed 35th overall. The sophomore Meier twins were next across the line for Duke. Hannah Meier crossed the line in 47th, and Haley Meier followed eight seconds behind her with a time of 21:35.9 for 56th place.
Senior Colleen Schmidt placed 71st overall with a time of 21:51.1, and sophomore Wesley Frazier rounded out Duke’s scoring five in 76th.
No. 15 North Carolina claimed the team title on the women’s side, breaking No. 12 Florida State’s six-year streak. No. 13 Virginia finished third. With 276 points, the Blue Devils came in 10th.
On the men’s side, No.3 Syracuse recorded 32 points—the lowest team score in seven years—en route to claiming back-to-back ACC Championship titles. N.C. State edged out the Tar Heels by five points for second. Duke tallied 296 points for 12th.
“Certainly this has been one of the most disappointing seasons that I have been a part of, but hopefully that will spur these guys on to train hard this summer and achieve some great things next season,” Ogilvie said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.