The men's cross country team placed fifth out of 12 teams Monday at the ACC Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Fla.
Virginia won the meet with a total of 30 points, edging out second place finisher Florida State by an eight-point margin.
With a total time of 2:04:01.70, Duke finished with 142 points-six points behind fourth-place Wake Forest.
"We would have liked to have beaten Wake Forest since we beat them at Notre Dame," head coach Norm Ogilvie said. "We thought we would finish fourth. They ran a really good race today, and we may have taken them a little bit for granted."
Chris Spooner earned Duke's highest finish with a 12th place time of 24:20.6 on the 8-kilometer course. With a top-14 finish, Spooner earned the first All-ACC honor of his career.
"We're very happy for Chris Spooner," Ogilvie said. "He was strong in every phase. He went out well, he ran strong and finished hard."
Junior Kevin Krieger was the next Blue Devil finisher, coming in 24th with a time of 24:41.1.
Ogilvie said Spooner will now focus on earning an individual NCAA Championship berth. He will compete at the NCAA Southeast Regional in Greenville, N.C., Nov. 12. If he can place in the top four, Spooner will qualify for the NCAA Championships Nov. 21 in Terre Haute, Ind.
As a team, the Blue Devils will compete at the Southeast Regional in an attempt to qualify for a team bid to the NCAA Championships. The top two teams at Regionals earn automatic spots in the NCAA Championships. The third place regional team may receive an at-large bid.
Ogilvie said the Blue Devils' will likely be competing with N.C. State and Wake Forest for the position-two teams that placed ahead of Duke yesterday at the ACC Championships.
"We have a shot at placing third at Regionals if we run well," Ogilvie said. "It would probably not be likely, but it could happen."
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