Duke cross country has solid tune-up before the ACC championships

<p>Duke cross country looked solid against tough competition this weekend.</p>

Duke cross country looked solid against tough competition this weekend.

In a final tune-up before the ACC cross country championships in Boston next week, the Duke men’s and women’s teams ran solidly against tough competition. 

On Saturday morning at the 2018 Wisconsin Pre-Nationals race, the Blue Devil women—competing in a 35-team field which included 10 nationally ranked teams—took 18th place with 474 points. On the men’s side, Duke placed 23rd with 624 team points. 

“I thought that the women did a good job of testing their fitness,”  head coach Rhonda Riley said. “We learned a lot about ourselves as a program and learned what we need to improve on for championship season. I was very pleased with Michaela’s performance and her ability to compete and put herself out in there in this elite field.” 

Sophomore Michaela Reinhart led the Blue Devils with her 47th overall finish and time of 21:11.9. Rounding out Duke women’s top five were freshman Monica Hebner with a 21:42.4 race, junior Lindsay Billings coming in with 21:52.6 and Liz Lansing crossing the line in 21:57.8. Senior duo Kim Hallowes and Gabrielle Richichi completed the Blue Devil’s lineup recording times of 22:09.2 and  22:23.1, respectively. 

On the men’s side, senior captain Nikhil Pulimood led the way with a 54th place finish and 8K time of 24:39.4. CJ Ambrosio finished second for the Duke men and crossed the line in 24:57.8 to take 89th place. Josh Romine, Cole Hoff and Paul Dellinger completed the Blue Devil’s top five. Sophomore Romine clocked in at 25:18.8, junior Hoff ran a 25:48.9 and sophomore Dellinger recorded a time of 25:52.2. Freshman Chris Theodore clocked in with a 26:03.9 mark and transfer Charles Cooper completed the men’s top seven with a 26:14.1 finish. 

Both Blue Devil teams will face more fierce competition at the ACC championships in Boston Oct. 26. 

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