A year ago, the Blue Devils won the Three Stripe Invitational by 25 points. This year, they nearly doubled that margin 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. Longwood placed second with 62, edging out North Carolina, which finished third with 63 points. This was Duke’s fourth consecutive win in the Three Stripe Invitational.
Sophomore Alex Kunzweiler paced the Blue Devils with a five-kilometer time of 15:28.43, good for fifth place. Fellow sophomore Matt Luppino, who was Duke’s second finisher, placed seventh with a time of 15:39.61. Kunzweiler and Luppino last ran in the ACC championships Oct. 30.
Sophomore Sean Kelly, who has been battling Achilles problems throughout the season, ran his first race since the Bull City Classic Sept. 12. He was the third Duke harrier across with a time of 15:53.75 to finish 11th overall.
“[Kelly] hasn’t had a lot of training,” Duke head coach Norm Ogilvie said. “It’s good to see him get back and run a solid race.”
Junior Weston Carvalho also beat the 16-minute mark, clocking a time of 15:56.62 to place 12th. Sophomore Kyle Carrozza and juniors Aaron Liberatore and Brian Benesch rounded out the Blue Devils’ top seven finishers, placing 15th, 16th and 17th respectively. Carrozza posted a time of 16:10.12, Liberatore had a time of 16:15.31 and Benesch finished less than a second behind him in 16:15.62.
“They packed it up pretty tight,” Ogilvie said. “It was a good day for them.”
The weather presented a challenge for the Blue Devils, due to a rainstorm that occurred during the race. The water slowed down the runners, making the course soft and muddy.
“[The rain] slowed everybody down,” Ogilvie said. “It’s just a part of cross country—wear your spikes and get a little muddy.”
Top runners such as graduate student Shaun Thompson and senior Blake Udland did not run as they are resting to prepare for the longer-distance NCAA Southeast Regional championships in Charlottesville, Va., next weekend. The duo and several other Blue Devils have been running eight-kilometer races since the beginning of October. The NCAA Southeast Regional championships, as well as the rest of postseason play, is a 10-kilometer race.
The Duke women only sent two runners to the Three Stripe Invitational as they prepare for the meet in Charlottesville as well. Junior Gina Daniel finished 10th with a time of 18:52.81, and senior Allison Sturges was not too far behind with a time of 19:38.24 to finish 17th. The Blue Devils did not place in the women’s team competition, as they did not bring the required five runners necessary to qualify.
Both the men’s and women’s team look to keep their seasons alive next week in Charlottesville at the NCAA Southeast Regional championships. The top six men’s teams in the Southeast Region are projected to make the NCAA championships. The Duke men are currently projected to finish seventh, so the Blue Devils need to defeat one or more of those top six in order to advance to the national championships in Louisville, Ky., the following weekend.
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