Duke Cross Country Opens 2020 Season Friday at Va. Tech

Friday, September 25

Blacksburg, Va.

5:15 P.M.

Duke University

Virginia Tech Invitational

Duke Cross Country Opens 2020 Season Friday at Va. Tech

9/24/2020 3:08:00 PM | Cross Country

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke men's and women's cross country teams are set to open the 2020 campaign at the Virginia Tech Invitational in Blacksburg, Va., on Friday night.

The Blue Devil women are slated to kick off the night at 5:15 p.m. EST with a two-lap, 6k race before the men navigate a three-lap 8k starting at 6 p.m.

Duke and NC State will travel to Blacksburg to compete against the Hokies in the first weekend of a six-team, intraconference series. The other three teams – Virginia, North Carolina and Wake Forest – are scheduled to race on Friday at the Virginia Invite in Earlysville, Va.

Due to COVID-19 procedures and precautions, spectators will not be permitted to attend the meet. While unattached and non-team runners will not be competing, each school is limited to 16 student-athlete entries per gender. The finishing chute at the end of both races will be divided into three so that each team's student-athletes will all finish in the same chute.

Each of the five seniors on the women's and men's roster will be competing for Duke. For the women, Michaela Reinhart and Sara Platek will look to pick up where they left off a season ago, as both earned All-Southeast Region honors for their performances at the 2019 NCAA Southeast Regional Championships. Reinhart set a personal-best time in the 6k race, clocking her 11th-place finish at 20:28.8, while Platek came in 18th in the field with her own PR time of 20:44.2. On Friday, they will line up next to team captains Leigha Torino and Helen Williams, while Amanda Beach is also set to compete after running in three 6k races as a junior.

Leading the men will be senior and team captain CJ Ambrosio, who in 2019 had the top finish among Blue Devil runners in four out of the six races he competed in. Ambrosio posted a PR time in the 8k when he finished second overall at the Cavalier Classic in September with a time of 24:27.2, and two months later he garnered All-Southeast Region status with a placement of 24th at the NCAA Regionals. Running alongside Ambrosio in the senior class will be fellow captains Alex Miley and Michael Ungvarsky, as well as Paul Dellinger and Josh Romine.

The juniors racing for the Duke women will be Rylee Bowen and Clara Savchik. Savchik is set to compete in her first cross country meet since the 2018 ACC Championships, while Bowen looks to build on the two races she appeared in last season. Chris Theodore, Will Dixon and Matt Politis are the juniors who will be running on the men's side. Politis' personal record in the 8k came last season, when he finished fourth overall at the Great American Cross Country Festival with a time of 24:48.4.

Caroline Howley and Samantha Schadler will aim to take the next step in their sophomore season during Friday's meet. Schadler had a pair of impressive showings in 2019, highlighted by a 10th-place finish at the Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational.

The five sophomore men who will be racing on Friday – Rory Cavan, Zach Kinne, Sam Rivera, Ryan Thompson and Connor Wells – all made a significant impact for the team during their freshman campaigns. Notably, Rivera became the first Blue Devil ever to earn ACC Freshman of the Year after posting the top finish by a true freshman in the field at the conference championship meet in November. Kinne, meanwhile, received ACC Freshman of the Week honors on two occasions – once after finishing 10th overall at the Roy Griak Invitational, and again following a PR time of 24:40.4 in the 8k at the Pre-National Invitational.

Six Duke freshman will make their collegiate debut on Friday. On the women's side, Victoria Patterson, Charlotte Tomkinson and Kelli Wilson are slated to compete for the Blue Devils, while Austin Gabay, Jack Kovach and Jared Kreis will get their careers started in the men's run.

Results of Friday's race will be available online at www.snaptiming.com. For more information on Duke cross country, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching for "DukeTFXC."

#GoDuke