Led by their core freshman duo, the Blue Devil women finished in the top third of a field that featured eight top-25 teams.
Duke finished 14th of 42 teams with 465 points at Pre Nationals Saturday morning in Louisville, Ky., on the same course where the NCAA championships will be held Nov. 18. Rookies Amanda Beach and Michaela Reinhart were the Blue Devils' top two finishers once again, with Beach coming in just in front of her classmate for the third time in the team's four races.
Beach finished the six-kilometer course in 20:49.8 to place 59th, and Reinhart was just nine seconds behind in 76th place. Sophomore Sophia Parvizi-Wayne followed with a time of 21:08.3 to finish 90th, and junior Kim Hallowes and sophomore Lindsay Billings were Duke's final scorers. Junior Olivia Gwynn was the final Blue Devil to finish in 261st place.
Duke's men's team won the ECU Pirates Invite a day earlier in Greenville, N.C., finishing with 49 points in the 10-team field—just one point ahead of host East Carolina.
Freshman Alex Miley led the way with a time of 24:40.39 on an eight-kilometer course to finish sixth. Miley was just 2.03 seconds in front of the Pirates' Nicholas Ciaccia, which wound up being the difference in the meet.
Sophomore Cole Hoff, freshman Paul Dellinger, senior Jordan Burton and sophomore Matt Wisner were all in the top 14 for the Blue Devils, who showed off their depth with their top 10 runners all finishing in a span of 28 seconds between 24:40.39 and 25:08.77.
Three women's runners also competed Friday in Greenville, as junior Sheridan Wilbur led the trio in sixth place with a time of 22:07.56 on a six-kilometer course.
The Blue Devils will be back in action in two weeks at the ACC championships in Louisville Oct. 27.
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