In the Pre-NCAA Meet that featured many of the top-25 teams in the nation, both the women's and men's cross country teams turned in strong performances and solidified their place among the best teams in the nation.
After struggling in its last race, the women's team finished sixth out of 34 teams, defeating four nationally ranked opponents along the way. With 240 points, the Blue Devils placed behind only No. 3 Georgetown (48 points), No. 6 Michigan State (118), No. 7 Arizona State (137), No. 10 Colorado (165) and No. 17 Northern Arizona (225).
"We knew that in order to put ourselves in a position to make NCAAs, we had to perform well at this race," women's coach Jan Samuelson-Ogilvie said. "Our district is so strong this year that we need as many victories as we can get now."
Duke was keyed by the return of freshman star Paige Miller, who missed the last race with a lower back injury. Miller finished first for Duke and placed 27th overall on the six-kilometer course in a time of 21:58, more than a minute behind winner Molly Austin of Colorado.
Miller was followed closely by fellow freshman Paris Edwards (34th, 22:04), senior Maddy Woodmansee (48th, 22:25), freshman Meaghan Leon (63rd, 22:33) and senior Katie Atlas (90th, 23:01).
"I'm very happy to see our freshmen doing so well," Samuelson-Ogilvie said. "But I was most pleased with the performance of Maddy Woodmansee. This was her best cross country race at Duke, and she is a very important part of our success this season."
Their sixth-place finish helped the women earn a No. 20 national ranking after they had previously fallen out of the top 25.
While the women jumped in the rankings, the men fell from No. 13 to No. 17 with an eighth-place finish, but still remained in position to make a run at the top teams in the nation.
As usual, the Blue Devils received a strong performance from senior Sean Kelly, who finished ninth overall on the eight-kilometer course in a time of 24:34. Kelly has finished first for the Blue Devils in every race this season.
Kelly was followed by a tight pack of young Duke runners, including sophomore Chris Williams (29th, 25:03) and freshmen Robert Smitson (45th, 25:18), Michael Hatch (65th, 25:30) and Jared Moore (67th, 25:34).
Williams, who missed most of last season with a stress fracture, had the best race of his collegiate career.
"I was very happy to be healthy and have a good race," Williams said. "As a team, we were pleased with our performance, but we know we can do better. Sean had a great race but he still wants to improve. Also, it was great to have three freshmen running so well."
Both the men's and women's teams hope to be at full strength when they return to action at the ACC Championships at the end of October. The women look forward to the return of the injured Phoebe Ko and Allison Hoffman, while the men hope to have freshman Nick Schneider back in action.
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