Duke women's cross country head coach Christine Engel resigns
By Staff Reports | May 10, 2016Head women's cross country coach and assistant track and field coach Christine Engel has resigned, the University announced Tuesday afternoon.
Head women's cross country coach and assistant track and field coach Christine Engel has resigned, the University announced Tuesday afternoon.
Graduate student Shaun Thompson finished 95th out of more than 250 runners at the NCAA championships Saturday, covering the 10-kilometer course at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky., in 30:55.2.
The rest of the Blue Devils have started preparing for the indoor track season, but graduate student Shaun Thompson’s postseason is not over.
Graduate student Shaun Thompson earned an automatic qualification for the NCAA championships with a second-place finish at the Southeast Regional championships Friday in Charlottesville, Va.
Shaun Thompson and the Blue Devils have one more shot at earning their first national championship berth since 2012. The Blue Devil men enter Friday's regional race seeded seventh, and the women are projected eighth for their six-kilometer race.
A year ago, the Blue Devils won the Three Stripe Invitational by 25 points. This year, they nearly doubled that and won by 47. Duke's seven scoring runners finished within less than a minute of each other, helping the Blue Devils take home the title Saturday morning at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. Duke finished with 15 points, lower than last year's winning score of 22 points.
Last year, the Blue Devils went to the Three Stripes Invitational and won by 25 points. This year, they look to do the same.
Graduate student Shaun Thompson crossed the line first for Duke and sixth overall as the Blue Devil men finished eighth at the ACC championships. Senior Anima Banks led the Duke women to an 11th-place finish.
Two years ago, graduate student Shaun Thompson made a bold move midway through the conference championship race, pulling out in front of the field and forcing his competitors to try to run him down.
Duke went to E.P. Tom Sawyer Park in Louisville, Ky., and turned in a slew of personal-best times. The men's squad finished 17th in a field of 42 teams—11 of which are nationally ranked—and the women's squad finished 26th out of 45 teams.
A strong performance by the Blue Devils could earn Duke a return trip to Louisville for the NCAA championships Nov. 21.
A year after passing out from heat exhaustion and being unable to finish this race, senior William Hague was the first Blue Devil to cross the finish line on another hot afternoon at McAlpine Creek Park in Charlotte.
After Shaun Thompson claimed an individual victory at the Princeton Inter-Regional Meet last weekend, the graduate student—along with the rest of the team’s top 10 runners—will get a rest from competition this weekend. Duke will travel to Charlotte, N.C., for the Royals Cross Country Challenge Friday, giving its B squad a chance to toe the line. The men's race will begin at 4:30 p.m., with the women set to start at 5:15 p.m.
Wind, rain and a slip near the starting line could not keep Shaun Thompson from making a triumphant return to the race course.
A month later than expected, Shaun Thompson hopes to see the payoff for his decision to redshirt the 2014 season as he leads the Blue Devils into the inaugural Princeton Invitational Saturday.
Duke finished second overall in Friday’s adidas XC Challenge in Cary, N.C., placing three runners in the top 10 of a field of 56 athletes. Senior captain Madison Granger leading the group and notching a third-place finish in 17:11.7.
After defeating N.C. Central in the Bull City Classic last weekend, the Blue Devil women will make the short trek to Cary, N.C., for the five-kilometer adidas XC Challenge Friday at 6 p.m.
The Blue Devils hosted their traditional dual meet with N.C. Central hours before the schools’ football teams meet on the field, but for the first time, the race did not start in Wallace Wade Stadium.
With a mixture of strong returners and an infusion of new talent, there is much to look forward to for the Blue Devils this fall, beginning with Friday evening's Hokie Invite—the first race for Duke's two freshmen.