CARY, N.C.—The Blue Devils were riding high following top-two finishes for the men and women at the VertCross Invitational two weeks ago.
But Friday they got a reminder of how stiff competition can be in the ACC.
Duke finished 11th out of 15 conference teams at the ACC championship at WakeMed Soccer Park in the men's and women's races Friday. The Blue Devil women were coming off their first win of the year two weeks ago and got a 15th-place finish from standout freshman Sophia Parvizi-Wayne, but her All-ACC effort was not enough to get Duke into the top 10 in the 6,000-meter event.
No Blue Devil men finished in the top 30 in the 8,000-meter competition, and Duke will look to regroup before returning to Cary for the Adidas Three Stripe next week and trying to qualify for the NCAA championship at regionals in two weeks.
“The biggest difference is,‘Welcome to the ACC!’" first-year women's head coach Rhonda Riley said. "It’s no joke. It’s very fast. I was standing at the mile and it was 4:50 for the mile for the leaders and that’s just quick, and I think that was a big eye-opener for me as a coach and for the team.”
Although the Blue Devils did not fare as well as they had hoped, Parvizi-Wayne stood out in her second race of the year. The London native earned all-conference accolades by finishing in the top 21, taking 15th with a time of 20:28.2—more than 30 seconds faster than any of her teammates.
The freshman improved on her time of 22:16.8 from the Roy Griak Invitational in late September.
“It’s only my second cross country race in three years, so we didn’t really know what to expect," Parvizi-Wayne said. "I’m pretty happy with how I ran. It wasn’t the exact result I wanted, but we ran as a team, and I’m really proud of everyone today."
The “exact results” Parvizi-Wayne wanted were to place in the top 10 and win ACC Freshman of the Year.
But she still stood out and has a chance to qualify for the NCAA championship late in her first year in Durham. Parvizi-Wayne is the second Blue Devil ever to earn All-ACC honors as a freshman and was the third-fastest freshman in Friday's race.
“Sophia ran with a lot of confidence and a lot of poise,” Riley said. “She’s a great athlete and she executes everything we talk about. We talked about finishing in the 20:30s. We talked about place-wise, on any given day, she could be anywhere between five and 15th and she finished 15th. When you put a goal in front of that girl, she’s going to attack it, and I’m really proud of her as a freshman.”
Several other Duke runners posted personal-best times, but they weren't enough to keep the Blue Devils close to the top teams in the conference. Freshman Lindsay Billings finished 37th with a time of 21:05.9, followed by sophomore Gabrielle Richichi’s 46th-place finish and time of 21:18.6.
Sophomores Liz Lansing and freshman Sarah Armstrong rounded out Duke's scorers, finishing 70th and 98th with times of 21:40.9 and 22:19.9.
No. 3 N.C. State dominated the women's competition, placing seven runners in the top 25 to finish with a team score of 53. The Blue Devils finished with a 245, edging out Boston College by two points.
“We’re going to stay positive. I don’t think the results showed how good this team is," Riley said. "We’re going to take away a lot of experience. We’re going to bring everyone back next year, and just keep moving forward."
On the men's side, with veterans Stephen Shine and Daniel Moore out due to injury, Stephen Garrett paced Duke with a 35th-place finish. The sophomore posted a 24:15.3 in the 8,000 meters for his best time ever at that distance.
The rest of the Blue Devil scorers finished in a close pack, with sophomore Nikhil Pulimood in 70th, fourth-year junior Alec Kunzweiler in 76th, junior Jordan Burton in 78th, and freshman Cole Hoff in 82nd. All four finished within 20 seconds of one another, with Pulimood leading the way with a 24:52.8.
“The biggest positive of the day is that the guys got a taste of how tough the ACC really is," men's head coach Norm Ogilvie said. "Hopefully that will motivate them to continue working hard."
Duke got off to a slow start in the crowded field and struggled to recover, with its last four runners eventually finishing in the middle of the 126 competing runners. No. 6 Syracuse, the reigning ACC and national champions, defended its conference title by placing five runners in the top 10 led by individual champion Justyn Knight.
The Blue Devils will look to get healthy and recover with three consecutive weeks of racing on tap following the ACC meet.
“I’d like to see the team respond to the performance we gave today at ACCs," Ogilvie said. "We have to take a couple days, regroup on Monday at practice, and we’ll see where we are then."
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