Although an injury ended the Blue Devils' chances of sending a runner to the NCAA championship, several Duke veterans still finished strong in their final race of the year.
Freshman star Sophia Parvizi-Wayne was in 17th place at the 2,000-meter mark in the women's 6,000-meter race, but the All-ACC performer was unable to finish the event due to back spasms. With Parvizi-Wayne out, the Blue Devil women finished 17th at the NCAA Southeast Regional at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville, Va., Friday, and the Duke men took 15th.
The field featured more than 30 teams, with the Blue Devil men impressing in their first 10,000-meter race and building momentum to carry into next year with their top five returners returning.
“Maybe for the first time all season, I felt they ran up to their potential,” Duke men’s head coach Norm Ogilvie said. “I’m proud of this group because they kept battling, and they didn’t throw the towel in. Any time you can have your best race of the season, it’s the final race of the season. That’s a good sign that we got some competitors.”
Stephen Garrett led the Blue Devils with a 40th-place finish after also pacing the team at the ACC championship. The sophomore navigated the daunting course that features a hill in the last mile with a time of 30:25.4, 10 places ahead of fellow sophomore Nikhil Pulimood. Pulimood was less than 15 seconds behind his classmate, and junior Jordan Burton and freshmen Tom Sullivan and Cole Hoff rounded out Duke's scorers, all finishing faster than 32 minutes.
The Blue Devils finished 11th at the ACC championship and met their goal with a top-15 finish Friday, giving the team hope to build on for the future. Veterans Stephen Shine, Daniel Moore and Alec Kunzweiler struggled to stay healthy this fall, and Duke will also add more youth next season to a team with plenty of underclassmen, with a recruiting class headlined by C.J. Ambrosio.
Ambrosio's 9:01.78 two-mile team is the second-fastest of any Blue Devil recruit in the past 25 years.
Women's head coach Rhonda Riley's team also has hope for the future despite Parvizi-Wayne's untimely injury and the 17th-place finish. Sophomore Gabrielle Richichi ran a personal-best at 6,000 meters with a 21:12.3 to place 28th individually.
“Gabby has been training well and consistently all season, and we were just waiting for her to have that race where she feels she has put everything together, and it definitely happened today," Riley said. "She was 92nd last year here, and for her to finish 28th is pretty incredible. She had a great run.”
Freshman Lindsay Billings also recorded a top-50 finish by taking 46th, and sophomore Liz Lansing, freshman Sarah Armstrong and sophomore Sheridan Wilbur rounded out the team's five scorers.
With all of their main contributors also returning, the Blue Devils will look for more improvement after making major strides in Riley's first season.
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