Duke’s traditional preseason trip to the North Carolina mountains last month was more important than in years past.
With just 12 runners on the roster, the Blue Devils had to gel as a unit, acclimating five freshmen to the college training regimen during a few days away before returning for the grind of the Triangle heat and the start of the semester.
Another oddity to the trip to Blowing Rock, N.C.—Duke was healthy.
“At preseason this year, we’ve never had it happen where all of us are going to work out every day,” senior Anima Banks said. “Usually, people stay back because they need to get work done or they’re injured and they can’t run, but this year we had every girl working out every day.”
Given the small roster of this year’s team, staying healthy will be crucial for the Blue Devils as they look to build consistency under second-year head coach Christine Engel. Duke finished 10th at the ACC Championships last October and lost several of its top finishers in the offseason. The Blue Devils will hold an alumni meet Tuesday at 9 a.m. before the regular season begins later this month.
After the long indoor and outdoor track and field season—which extends into June for many of Duke’s returning runners—Engel had her team take some time to rest and recover before beginning training for the upcoming cross-country season.
“[The rest] is really important not just physically, but also mentally,” Engel said. “They get a little downtime, and then we build up their volume progressively over the summer, add in a variety of different things—not just going out and running every day, but trying to add in some strength work, flexibility work to keep them healthy throughout the long summer.”
Last year’s trip to the mountains was also an eventful one—Engel had to get to know her new team, and her runners had to get to know her.
“I got the job literally a week before the team came back [for preseason training], so it was really hitting the ground running, trying to learn everything, learn Duke, learn about all the returning athletes and freshmen,” Engel said. “Fast-forward to now, a year later...I’m comfortable with Duke, our returning athletes [and I] have a great relationship.”
Banks and classmate Madison Granger will be looked to as the anchors of this year’s squad, with both runners coming off personal-best times during the track season. Banks crossed the line in 2:05.42 in the 800 meters at the NCAA East Regionals in May—the fourth-fastest time in Duke history—and Granger clocked in at 4:20.35—also the new fourth-fastest time in the program record books—in the 1,500 meters at the ACC Championships, providing momentum heading into the offseason. The duo was recently named team captains for the season.
The five-harrier freshman class is the first Engel has recruited to Durham. With such a small roster, several of the newcomers could compete for spots on the race course right away, including Gabrielle Richichi, who finished 16th at the national high school cross-country meet as a senior. Olivia Gwynn and Kim Hallowes bring an international flair to the group, hailing from the United Kingdom and Australia, respectively.
“This year it’s really awesome because the freshmen [Engel] recruited, personality-wise, they function really well with her and really well with the team,” Banks said. “And because it’s her freshmen, you can already sense that closeness and that respect.”
Engel prefers to do all of the day’s running in the morning, Banks said, shifting away from doing one workout in the morning and another in the afternoon, one of the noticeable changes to the training schedule. Adjusting to the new leadership took some time, but Banks said things have now fallen into place.
“Last year, we find out that we’re getting a coach switch in the middle of the summer, which was kind of a surprise. And then as as coach, she doesn’t know the athletes that she’s dealing with when she comes in, so I think that that was kind of an interim period for us—we were trying to get to know her as a person, she was trying to get to know 20 girls as a person, which is obviously going to be really hard,” Banks said. “There’s no limbo period anymore, so the chemistry this year is much better.”
Four freshmen—Gwynn, Richichi, Hallowes and Sheridan Wilbur—will toe the line for the first time as a college runner in Tuesday’s alumni meet, which will also feature N.C. Central and a group of former Blue Devil athletes, including former field hockey forward Jessica Buttinger, who competed on the track for Duke last spring.
Duke will compete in the Bull City Classic Sept. 12 against N.C. Central—the same day as the Blue Devil football team’s home opener, also against the crosstown Eagles—before traveling to nearby Cary, N.C., for the adidas XC Challenge Sept. 18.
“Our philosophy is we want to focus on our process goals, because the things we do each and every day are going to contribute to those outcome goals,” Engel said. “Those are the things you really need to focus on on a daily basis—working hard, recovering. Creating a really, really positive and supportive dynamic is something that we’re really committed to.”
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