Duke XC Turns In Pair of Fourth-Place Finishes At NCAA Regionals

Saturday, November 15

Winston-Salem, N.C.

11:00 AM

Duke University

429

NCAA Southeast Regional

Eight Blue Devils Qualify For Postseason In First Meet Of The Season

Duke XC Turns In Pair of Fourth-Place Finishes At NCAA Regionals

11/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country

By: Duke Sports Information

CLEMMONS, N.C. ? It was a fourth-place showing on both sides for the Duke men's and women's cross country teams Saturday morning in the NCAA Southeast Regional meet held at the Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, N.C., hosted by Wake Forest University.

Both squads took fourth overall, with the women competing against 32 other teams over a 6K race, and the men racing 28 teams over a season-long 10K.

“We're very happy with our performance relative to how we did at the ACC Championships,” said Director of Track & Field Norm Ogilvie. “We turned the tables on a number of teams this week and were able to close some gaps, so we're very happy and we feel we're peaking at the right time.”

The Blue Devil men turned in a pair of All-Southeast Region performances, as sophomore Bo Waggoner and junior James Osborne each turned in the necessary top-25 finish to pace the Blue Devils in the field of 212 runners. Waggoner led Duke with his 11th place finish in a time of 30:43, with Osborne then coming in 24th in 31:27.

Waggoner will also likely earn an individual bid to the NCAA Championships on Mon, Nov. 24 in Terre Haute, Ind.

Behind Osborne, junior captain Tradelle Ward turned in the best race of his Duke career, taking 32nd and third for the Blue Devils as he crossed the line in 31:39. Josh Brewer and Andrew Brodeur rounded out the scoring for the squad as they placed 39th and 40th overall. The Blue Devils got all five scorers in the top 40 and all under 32 minutes.

Duke's team total of 146 points placed them fourth behind team champions William & Mary (66), Virginia (67), and N.C. State (111), as Duke closed the gaps on its ACC rivals after falling 87 points behind UVA and 71 behind N.C. State at the conference meet two weeks ago.

The men picked up 25 wins and just three losses on the day, sending Ogilvie over the 800-win plateau for his career. The Blue Devils improved to 82-17 on the fall.

The women also secured the fourth-place finish as a team, with a team score of 171 placing them behind Virginia (105), Kentucky (126), and North Carolina (154).

Duke was led by freshman Carly Seymour's 26th-place finish, as she crossed the line in 21:48. Sophomore Emily Schwitzer was Duke's second finisher in 29th overall, clocking a 21:50, followed by Amanda Patterson in 37th (21:58), Christy Adamyk in 39th (22:02), and Suejin Ahn in 40th (22:02), as the Blue Devil women also placed all five scorers in the top 40 out of 231 harriers from four states.

The Blue Devil women picked up 29 wins and three losses on the day, moving to 89-9-1 for the season.

Next up for the women will be the ECAC Championships on Sat., Nov. 22, while the men will compete that day in the IC4A Championships, both to be held at Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y.

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