After a disappointing and injury-filled 2011 season, the Blue Devils, ranked seventh in the Southeast Region, are not dwelling on the past. With a strong freshman class and healthy returners, confidence is in the air as Duke takes to the trail in search of its third appearance at the NCAA National meet in the past four seasons.
A key contributor to the struggles the Blue Devil men faced in their previous season was the absence of two key runners, James Kostelnik and Mike Moverman, both of whom had been expected to take top-five spots on the team. Now, with Kostelnik returning as a fifth-year senior and Moverman a redshirt junior, the team has gained depth and as well as added leadership for their incoming freshman class.
Depth has never been a concern for the Duke men, head coach Norm Ogilvie said, but the issue for the Blue Devils in previous years has rested with their inability to produce a strong frontrunner who could secure a top position in high level meets and get a low point score. Ogilvie believes this year may be different.
“We had extremely good results at pre-season training camp,” Ogilvie said. “Domenick DeMatteo, coming off his 13:50 [1500m] on the track last season, is the fastest guy coming into the season that I’ve had as far as 5K time goes. He has had a great summer of training and is in phenomenal shape…. I also think Brian Atkinson’s 10K success and the training he’s had this summer could potentially make him a low stick as well.”
The Blue Devil coach cited the team’s potential in the third, fourth and fifth spots, two of which Kostelnik and Moverman will likely fill.
With a strong crop of returning runners, the Blue Devils will have no shortage of leadership. Upperclassmen such as DeMatteo are not only looking to set their own goals, but also to also help the incoming freshman class and less experienced runners step up to ensure the team consistently performs at it’s best.
“The freshman class that came in is a big one, which is very good, and it’s a very mature class. Right now we’re just making sure that they don’t get overwhelmed by the training…so they don’t burn out in the middle of the season,” DeMatteo said. “They’re a really promising group and I’m looking forward to seeing them develop.”
The majority of the new class’ development will occur later in the season as both the length of the meet and strength of competition increases toward the regional and potentially the national meet. But the freshmen will get a taste of what that will be like earlier than they would have in previous seasons, as scheduling changes will introduce the top runners to competitive meets, such the NCAA Pre-National meet in Louisville, Ky. In past years meets of this caliber were not a part of the team’s itinerary.
Until then, Duke’s new runners are eager for the chance to test themselves against their teammates at their first meet, Friday’s Virginia Tech Invitational in Blacksburg, Va. The nerves that may accompany more competitive meets have yet to make an appearance.
“Coming from high school I didn’t really have too many guys to train with,” freshman Blake Udland said. “It’s natural to be a little nervous before my first college race but the older guys have [said] ‘It’s just a race... it’s just at a little different level’. So I’m not too nervous about racing.”
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