The cross country teams will kickoff their season tomorrow with a small meet on Wake Forest’s wooded course in Winston-Salem. Today is the first day the NCAA allows cross country teams to compete and the Blue Devils will take advantage of the opportunity, racing against Wake Forest and High Point in an informal meet.
“This is a chance for three local schools to get together and have a little bit of competition at the beginning of the season,” men’s head coach Norm Ogilvie said.
The meet’s format is a four-stage relay in which a pair of runners alternate 3.5-kilometer segments to reach the 14-kilometer finish line.
Although the Blue Devils have not raced using this unique format in the past, it should ease the transition for the freshmen, who were used to running shorter distances in high school competition. The Blue Devils open their official season with a typical 8-kilometer race Sept. 11 at the Georgetown Invitational.
For the men’s team, a mix of upperclassmen and underclassmen will assume leading roles. The top pairing, however, will be two experienced seniors, Nick Schnieder and Michael Hatch. Pairing number two represents the young talent on the team with sophomore Keith Kreiger and highly-touted freshman Chris Spooner.
Although the meet is primarily just for the athletes to get a feel for competitive running early in the season, their matchup against Wake Forest will be a good indicator of where the men’s team stands. In addition, High Point, a school with an up-and-coming Division I cross country program, should provide a good push for the younger Blue Devils.
The stronger women’s team will similarly use this meet as part of its training. Under newly promoted head coach Kevin Jermyn, the Blue Devils are ranked ninth in Harriers Magazine’s preseason poll.
The Duke women are experienced and deep with seniors Paris Edwards and Meaghan Leon and juniors Natasha Roetter and Laura Stanley leading the way. Wake Forest, which has finished around 20th nationally the past two seasons, will provide some stiff competition for the women.
“We are going to treat this as a race simulation to help the girls mentally and physically get into race shape,” Jermyn said.
Given the relaxed format, the Blue Devils are taking this meet very lightly and are looking to having fun with new style of competition.
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