Women's Cross Country Takes Fourth, Men Fifth At ACC Championships

Saturday, November 1

Chapel Hill, N.C.

11:00 AM

Duke University

512

ACC Championships

Women's Cross Country Takes Fourth, Men Fifth At ACC Championships

11/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? The Duke men's and women's cross country teams each improved upon their conference finishes from a year ago, as the men took fifth and the women tied for fourth at the 2008 ACC Cross Country Championships Saturday at the Ranson-Hamrick Cross Country Course at Finley Golf Course hosted by the University of North Carolina.

Both squads had taken sixth at the event last year and bettered that performance. The men picked up seven wins and four losses on the day, moving to 53-14 overall, and the women were 7-3-1 to bring them to 56-6-1 on the season.

The men finished fifth out of the 12 ACC squads, led by sophomore Bo Waggoner's 10th place finish which earned him All-ACC honors (the top 14 runners receive that distinction). Waggoner covered the 8K course in 24:39, followed by Cory Nanni's 25h-place finish in 25:16. Freshman Stephen Clark was third for the Blue Devils in 28th (25:26), while Josh Brewer took fourth for the team in 31st (25:32). Rounding out the scoring on the day was freshman Andrew Brodeur's 33rd place finish, as he finished in 25:34.

For Duke's second through fourth runners, it was their highest individual finish for the team this season.

The men's team score of 127 placed them behind the team champions in Virginia (40), as well as N.C. State (56), Virginia Tech (75), and Florida State (80).

“I think this is our best team performance so far,” said Director of Track & Field Norm Ogilvie. “We are expecting to be better in the 10K race [at regionals] in two weeks because we really had a lot of guys move up late in the race.”

“We were a young team today ? our five scorers were three sophomores and two freshmen,” Ogilvie added.

The women were tied for fourth in the 6K race, jumping up two places from last year's meet. They were led by sophomore Emily Schwitzer's 18th place finish, as she completed the course in 21:26.7, followed by freshman Suejin Ahn right behind her in 19th in 21:26.9.

Junior Kate Van Buskirk was 26th in 21:37, while freshman Carly Seymour clocked in at 21:39 to take 28th. Christy Adamyk was the fifth scorer, taking 33rd in 21:45.

Duke's team score of 124 tied them with Virginia, as they finished behind the team champions Florida State (27), Boston College (106), and Wake Forest (112).

“I thought our team competed aggressively ? I think they left it all out on the course,” said head coach Kevin Jermyn. “We have to freshen up for NCAA Southeast Regionals and nationals which is what we have been training for and want to peak at. We looked a little flat out there but we're not far off from where we want to be. We just didn't put all the pieces together today.”

“Suejin Ahn had a fantastic race for a freshman and we are very pleased with her outstanding finish today,” Jermyn said.

The meet brought Duke two Carlyle Cup points as well, as both squads defeated rival North Carolina to bring the season standings to 3-2.5 in favor of UNC. The Carlyle Cup is a year-long all-sports competition between the schools and is sponsored by Carlyle & Co. of Greensboro, N.C.

In the rankings, the women are ranked 30th in the nation and No. 2 in the Southeast Region, while the men sit at sixth in the region.

Both teams will compete small squads at next weekend's dual meet against N.C. State in Cary, N.C.

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