On an evening when Duke's top six runners all recorded personal best times, freshman Tom Becker's performance stood out as the men's cross country team's biggest highlight as the Blue Devils competed against some of the nation's top distance runners at the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind., on Friday.
Becker was officially the second freshman finisher in the race, placing 34th overall in 25:11. Becker actually may have finished a step ahead of Notre Dame's Antonio Arce, a fellow freshman from California. Arce was one of the top high school runners in the nation last year, and Becker had never beaten him.
"I didn't even know that he went to Notre Dame before we got there," Becker said. "But when I found out that I was going to be running against him, I was pretty pumped up the night before the race. When we saw each other at the starting line, I think there was a kind of silent pact that we were going to key off each other."
The 25:11 performance, which is easily Becker's best performance as a Blue Devil, was better than he had expected to do going into the race.
"I was surprised at every mile when I heard my splits," Becker said. "I knew I was running smoothly, though."
Junior Darin Mellinger crossed the finish line one second ahead of Becker to place 32nd. Although Mellinger recorded a personal-best time on the flat five-mile course, he was not entirely satisfied with his race.
"As far as time, I was pleased, but as far as place, I could have raced better," Mellinger said. "[Becker] really ran more aggressively than I did, and maybe that's something I need to improve on."
Freshman Colin Young (25:48) and senior captain Pat Neville (25:58) were Duke's next two finishers, placing 77th and 94th, respectively. Young was the eighth-fastest freshman in the meet. The strong showings by Young and Neville enabled the Blue Devils to have four runners finish in under 26 minutes in a meet for the first time in over a decade.
Freshman Scott Antoun, who faded in the fifth mile of the race, was Duke's No. 5 runner on Friday, placing 128th in 26:23. Junior Brett Marcus followed Antoun in 26:37, which was good for 150th place.
As a team, Duke tied for 12th in the meet with Atlantic Coast Conference rival Virginia. The Blue Devils expect to battle the Cavaliers for fourth-place in the conference meet at Wake Forest in three weeks.
The Fighting Irish won Friday's meet on a cold, rainy evening on their home course. Several other nationally-ranked programs were among the top finishers. In fact, the level of competition was so high that Wake Forest, a favorite to win the ACC meet and make a return visit to the NCAAs this season, placed sixth in the meet.
"This is the highest quality meet we've run in," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said. "Duke cross country is definitely ahead of where we were last year. But Duke still lacks top-side strength. That has to change for us to become a national-level club."
Duke's second group of runners competed in a meet in College Park, Md., on Saturday. The Blue Devils were the top collegiate team in that competition, defeating Maryland's top squad and the second-best team from Virginia. Duke's first five runners finished within 35 seconds of one another on the slow course.
"For a good while we were all packed together," junior Shane Shepherd said.
Junior Matt Haywood was the top Blue Devil finisher in the meet, placing seventh in 27:29. Senior Joe Crespo (eighth place), junior Mike Park (10th), junior Danny Schuman (11th) and Shepherd (15th) rounded out the top five for Duke's second squad. Senior Shawn Hynes completed the race in 28:38, despite spraining his ankle in the second mile of the five-mile course.
Another of Duke's many freshmen stars, Mike Caiazzo, ran in his first meet of the season on Saturday in Durham. Caiazzo placed third at the N.C. Central Invitational in 27:20, competing as an unattached runner.
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