The men's cross country team pulled off one of its biggest upsets in recent years on Saturday, winning the North Carolina state championship in Charlotte.
Duke won the meet with 49 points, beating heavily-favored North Carolina by 12 points.
"As far as cross country goes, this is the biggest step we've taken in my four years here," senior captain Pat Neville said.
UNC, which should be one of the Blue Devils' main competitors for one of the top spots in the Atlantic Coast Conference meet in two weeks, had recently beaten a Yale team that won its meet at Duke last month. Based on these results, the Duke team entered Saturday's meet knowing that a state title would be a long shot.
But a strong showing by their top six runners enabled the Blue Devils to breeze past the Tar Heels and the other nine teams which competed at the North Carolina Intercollegiates on Saturday.
"I was really bracing myself for the team to lose," freshman Tom Becker said. "Beating UNC really got us pumped up. I think this definitely increases the confidence for the whole team."
Becker led the way for the Duke harriers, placing third in 25:23.4. Becker took the lead the eight-kilometer race with a mile and a half remaining, and he finished just 1.5 seconds behind the individual winner, who passed him in the final 400 meters.
"Tom Becker showed how good he can be," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said. "Tom went for the win. It is an important step for him to be Duke's top runner."
Although Becker was pleased with the team's performance, he was disappointed that he narrowly missed winning an individual state title. Actually, during the race, he didn't realize that he was in first place, since there was an unattached runner ahead of him.
"If I had known that I was in the lead, I might have given more of a struggle in surrendering the lead," Becker said. "Shooting for the win was definitely different. Before, it was just a matter of going out and running hard."
Junior Darin Mellinger took fifth in the race, finishing in 25:38.1. Mellinger and Becker both finished ahead of UNC's No. 1 runner, which gave Duke a big boost in scoring.
"Darin did exactly what we wanted him to do," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said.
Both Becker and Mellinger received all-state honors for placing in the top 10 in the meet. Another Blue Devil, freshman Colin Young, narrowly missed earning the all-state distinction. Young completed the race in 26:03.6, which was good for 11th place.
Duke's next three runners, freshman Scott Antoun (26:09.8), Neville (26:11.2) and junior Brett Marcus (26:12.3) finished within three seconds of one another, placing 14th, 16th and 18th, respectively.
"Those are the runners that really won it for us," Ogilvie said. "In the last mile they were behind Carolina's guys, but they showed why we think Duke is so tough in the last mile."
Neville's performance was particularly impressive since he had missed practice for several days prior to the race with a cold.
"Pat Neville ran the gutsiest race in his four years here," Ogilvie said. "He came through with a great race. I think we're getting really good leadership from Pat. What he did was very inspiring for those guys."
Duke's victory over UNC is significant because, prior to Saturday, the Blue Devils expected the Tar Heels to take third place in the ACC, while Duke and Virginia, which tied each other at the Notre Dame Invitational last weekend, would be left to battle it out for fourth. Now, however, it appears that the third spot in the conference is up for grabs.
"Our goal is still to finish in the top half of the ACC," Ogilvie said. "Third place would certainly be within reason if we had a great day. You would think that North Carolina would be extra motivated to beat Duke in the ACCs now."
The Duke runners, however, have felt all season that they had a shot at competing with both UNC and UVa.
"I think we were being a little conservative saying we could be in the top half [of the ACC]," Neville said. "All year, we've been talking about shooting for third."
Ogilvie believes that the team's performance on Saturday demonstrates how they are different from previous seasons' squads.
"I think we've improved in each meet this year," Ogilvie said. "In the past, we've started the year well and then leveled off."
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