The Blue Devil men's and women's teams both had strong performances Friday morning to deliver their best finishes at the ACC championships in years.
Duke's women tallied 179 points to finish in sixth place, their highest since 2013, and the men took eighth place with 205 points for the first time since 2015 at Franklin Park in Boston. Both teams improved one place from last year's ACC championships and several runners set new personal records.
On the men's side, sophomore Alex Miley was the first Blue Devil to complete the eight-kilometer course with a personal-best time of 24:19.7, good for 23rd place. Miley slipped to eighth on the team in the Roy Griak Invitational Sept. 29, which forced him to stay home while the top seven ran at Pre-Nationals Oct. 13. But Miley ran well to lead the rest of the team at the ECU Pirates Invite Oct. 12, and he reclaimed his position at the front of the Blue Devil pack Thursday after he was also the first Duke runner to finish at last year's NCAA Southeast Regional to wrap up the season.
"He was our eighth man at Roy Griak, so he kind of got sent back to the minors in a way. We put him on the B team," men's head coach Norm Ogilvie said. "Then today of course he was our top runner. That’s the kind of runner Alex is.... Having him lead our team is really good timing for us, because we need him to be at the front and be our leader."
Senior Nikhil Pulimood and sophomore C.J. Ambrosio were not far behind with times of 24:33.3 and 24:36.5—a personal best for Ambrosio—to finish in the top 50.
Sophomore Josh Romine shattered his fastest time by 30 seconds to finish 53rd in 24:48.3, and graduate student Charles Cooper, junior Cole Hoff and junior Tom Sullivan all trailed Romine by less than six seconds to give the Blue Devils a clear top seven to send to the Southeast Regional in two weeks. Cooper, who specialized in the middle distances in track at Georgetown and only ran one year of cross country, broke 25 minutes in an eight-kilometer race for the first time.
"We had a lot of good efforts today. I would say just about everybody on the team ran their best race of the season," Ogilvie said. "Miley stepped up, Romine stepped up, there are a lot of guys who just ran very, very solid for us, so I would say absolutely thumbs up, positive day."
In the team race, Duke finished one place ahead of North Carolina, and Notre Dame edged out Syracuse with 57 points to take home the title.
The women's team was led once again by sophomore Michaela Reinhart, who finished in 20th place with a time of 20:58.5 on the six-kilometer course. Senior Gabrielle Richichi made a surprise surge as the next Blue Devil to cross the line in a personal-best 21:05.0 in 24th place after finishing seventh or eighth on the team in her two races earlier in the fall and redshirting last season.
"She has been training at a very high level, and Gabby is someone who improves every week and every race, and we knew it was in her, and it was just a matter of coming together on the right day," women's head coach Rhonda Riley said. "She certainly had a fantastic race today and really stepped up for the team."
Senior Kim Hallowes followed Richichi with a 37th-place finish in 21:25.1, and freshman Monica Hebner led a pack that included senior Liz Lansing, sophomore Amanda Beach and senior Lindsay Billings that all finished between 21:43 and 21:52 to round out the Blue Devils' top seven.
Duke's men that were not in the top seven Friday will finish their season next Friday at the Hokie Open, and the Blue Devils' top men's and women's runners will compete at the Southeast Regional in two weeks at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C. The men's team ran that course in the Winthrop Invite last year and planned on returning earlier this fall, but the meet was canceled due to Hurricane Florence.
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