No. 13 Duke started its 2024 season off with a bang this past weekend, sweeping its first five races of the season.
After a successful scrimmage against Virginia last weekend, the Blue Devils traveled to Oak Ridge, Tenn., to race against many ACC teams including North Carolina, Notre Dame and Clemson at the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational on Melton Hill Lake.
After sweeping the first five races on Saturday, Duke closed out the first day with eight top finishes and close second-place finishes in two other races. This included a First Varsity Four first-place win against the Tar Heels by more than 12 seconds, a considerable margin, led by sophomore coxswain Ava Liebmann. Liebmann played a key role as she guided the Third Varsity Eight crew to a first-place finish that clinched the Pocock Cup for Duke at the Lake Wheeler Invitational last April.
“I just think it was a really good team effort,” said head coach Megan Cooke Carcagno. “We had to really work together, really cohesively to make all the events run on time and be really productive.”
On Sunday, Duke’s all-around great performance continued as it swept the remaining five races — including the crews from Navy, Notre Dame and Wisconsin. With these five sweeps Sunday, the Blue Devils took 13 out of 15 of the races from the weekend.
“It would be really hard for me to single anyone out just because of the nature of how all the boats raced,” Cooke Carcagno said. “I do feel like it was a pretty good showing. It seems like we have a lot of really nice stuff.”
The Varsity Four, however, continued its strong performance from Saturday as it finished with a time of 7:22.733, nearly eight seconds better than the boat from the Fight Irish.
The Second Varsity Four also continued its strong performances, recording its third first-place finish in three rounds this season led by crucial coxswain sophomore Mia Khamish and propelled by sophomores Sophia Greco, Morven Thompson and freshman Eliza Straayer.
Duke only had two non-first-place finishes the entire weekend, but they were close second-place finishes to Indiana both times.
The strong opening performance by the Blue Devils will need to continue as they head into a strong matchup with the Big Ten in Ohio March 30 against No. 9 Michigan and No. 12 Ohio State. In the ACC/Big Ten Double Dual last season, the Blue Devils went head-to-head against Ohio State in six races and received first-place finishes in the Varsity Four and Third Varsity Four races.
“We have a really big challenge coming up,” Cooke Carcagno said. “I think it’s just really important that we not only get fitter and faster, but that we start to find some combinations that are just really starting to emerge, so we can put our fastest athletes in the key positions.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.