Eighteen colors, 18 teams, 18 school flags undulating in the wind. Hundreds of athletes below, bristling with nerves and excitement, primed to let themselves loose. The shriek of a whistle, then dead silence all around. Boom goes the gun, and all of a sudden, there’s an army racing down the WakeMed hill.
Friday, the Blue Devils took to WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., for the ultimate test: the ACC Championships. Although it wasn’t the best day for Duke, with the men placing 11th with 345 points and the women taking 18th with a total of 549 points, it was a great day for racing and the spirit of competition. Wake Forest took the team title for the men in an astonishing 60 points, and Notre Dame dominated the women’s side. And although neither Duke team was that competitive Friday, head coach Kevin Jermyn has hope for the future.
“I know how we can get there, but it's going to take some faith,” Jermyn said. “It’s easier to believe when you're really close.”
On paper, a team placing 11th at a championship meet perhaps makes that future hard to believe in. But with a relatively young team and a new coach, it’s impressive that the top five Duke men all ran personal bests in the 8k.
Friday, graduate student Duncan Miller led that charge for the Blue Devils, finishing 66th with a time of 23:44.8. The entire race, it was impossible to predict who the Blue Devils’ top finisher would be. Three of them appeared in a pack after 1.1k: senior Beck Wittstadt with graduate students Matthew Farrell and Jack Stanley. A few hills later, it was Wittstadt and Miller, tearing through each WakeMed turn together like two wheels on the same axle. At the finish, it was the same two leading the Blue Devils, with a surprise guest — freshman Luke Thompson — not far behind.
“Luke just ran absolutely fantastic,” Jermyn said. “As a freshman… he's probably the fastest improving guy right now on the team.”
Closing out the scorers for the Blue Devils were junior Ryan Banko and redshirt freshman Alden Keller, who placed 76th and 78th, respectively, and with personal records.
Without last year’s ACC silver medalist, Amina Maatoug, the women’s team had big shoes to fill. And this is no individual tennis match. A good team placement requires five healthy, competitive runners able to perform in the heat of the moment. The Blue Devils just didn’t have them on the day.
“Coming in, we knew we were probably a little understaffed to kind of compete at this level,” Jermyn said. “That probably makes it a little bit harder even for our top girls… but I thought they did a great job making the most of the challenges that they're overcoming.”
Placing 18th out of 18 teams, it was no doubt the Duke women’s worst ACC Championship team performance in recent years. But given a volatile roster, a coaching change and the row of constant injuries that has plagued the team in recent years, it is perhaps an understandable loss.
“We always want to be better, and so I empathize with our team,” Jermyn said. “Because I want to win.”
Still, there was one bright light among the Duke women in sophomore Hattie Reynolds. After moving to the United States from Holt, England, last year, then transferring to Duke from Elon this season, it’s safe to say that Reynolds’s recent running career has been unstable. But Friday, Reynolds didn’t slow, leading the Duke Women with a time of 21:14.5, good for 95th place.
“I think she's going to be capable of much more when she gets really settled in at Duke,” Jermyn said. “But after an unstable last year-and-a-half in her life, I think [Friday’s performance] is a sign of just how good she is.”
Right behind Reynolds for the Blue Devil women was none other than sophomore star Thais Rolly. For most of the 6k course, it was Reynolds on Rolly’s back at every loop and bend. At the finish however, Rolly was ten places behind Reynolds, crossing the line at 21:23.2. After a 37th place finish at ACCs last year, it was by no means her best day, but if the past season is any indication, Rolly has more to show yet.
“It takes people different amounts of time to go through struggle, figure out their path, and then execute that path,” Jermyn said. “So as a coach, I… give them the encouragement, the space, the time and patience to do that, because it doesn't always come in the clock of our desire.”
Beyond the Blue Devils, the meet was one for the ages. Although the N.C. State women lost the team title after eight straight years on top of the ACC, it was still a day of celebration for them after Wolfpack sophomore Grace Hartman clinched a seven-second decisive victory. For the men, it seemed anyone’s race for the majority of the eight kilometers between four All-American contenders. In the end, Virginia Tech junior Gary Martin pulled away in 22:17.6, climbing the 300m stretch of the final hill all on his own.
Nov. 8, the Blue Devils look to get a head start on the postseason at the home Blue Devil Invitational, Hillsborough. What’s next? Jermyn has a plan.
“We just need to keep on staying healthy, keep on working hard, keep on believing, keep on having faith,” he said.
Vishwa Veeraswamy contributed reporting.
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