Unbeaten Women Take Second Straight Regional Title, Men Place Fourth

Saturday, November 12

Greenville, N.C.

12:15 p.m.

Duke University

NCAA Southeast Regional

Unbeaten Women Take Second Straight Regional Title, Men Place Fourth

11/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country

By: Duke Sports Information

GREENVILLE, N.C. ? The No. 1 Duke women's cross country team earned its second Southeast Regional title Saturday, defending its 2004 finish with 33 points, 45 ahead of its closest competitor, at East Carolina's Lake Kristi. Seniors Shannon Rowbury and Clara Horowitz secured the top two spots as the pair, who have taken first and second together in every 2005 meet, finished four seconds apart. The men's team finished fourth, improving on a fifth-place finish from 2004.

With the win, the Duke women earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships Nov. 21 at Indiana State. In the women's 6K, N.C. State earned the runner-up spot and the other NCAA berth with 78 points. Virginia was third with 149 points, Wake Forest took fourth with 151, and William & Mary rounded out the top five with 180 points.

The men's race, led by Liberty's Josh McDougal, who set a course record of 29:40 for his second straight title, saw William & Mary and Virginia advance to the NCAA Championships with scores of 68 and 91, respectively. N.C. State just barely missed the cut, tallying 96 points for third place. Duke finished fourth with 198.

Rowbury ran away with the women's individual title, her fourth straight win this year, crossing the finish line in 19:55.2. Horowitz gave her her biggest competition, running a 19:59.1 and destroying her fifth-place time of 20:31.2 from 2004. The first non-Duke harrier to finish Saturday was N.C. State's Jemissa Hess, whose time of 20:08.6 was 13 seconds behind Rowbury. Rowbury and Horowitz guided a group of six women who placed in the top 17 and seven in the top 26.

Seniors Sally Meyerhoff and Elizabeth Wort also finished in the top 10, Meyerhoff in sixth (20:16.9) and Wort in 10th (20:35.7). Graduate student Kelly Fillnow scored for the first time this season, rounding out Duke's top five with a 14th-place time of 20:49. Senior Natasha Roetter (20:52.2) finished 17th and freshman Maddie McKeever (21:12.6) came in 26th.

In the men's race, junior Keith Krieger knocked 34 seconds off his 2004 regional time to run to 10th place Saturday in a time of 30:23.5, missing an individual berth to the NCAA Championships by three runners. Junior Dan Daly was next in line for Duke, finishing 33rd in 31:12.1. Freshman Geary Gubbins came in 10 places behind, running a 31:31.8, while freshman Kevin McDermott (31:52.5) and sophomore Chris Spooner (31:55.5) garnered 52nd and 53rd-place finishes. Also running for Duke were seniors Chas Salmen (91st, 32:24.3) and Cameron Bell (133rd, 33:05.6).

The unbeaten Blue Devil women will wrap up their quest for their first national title Mon., Nov. 21, at the NCAA Championships, hosted by Indiana State in Terre Haute Ind.

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