11/14/2009 - Duke Sports Information

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Duke University women's cross country team won its first region championship since bringing home back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005, while the men finished fourth on their side Saturday at the NCAA Southeast Regional, hosted by the University of Louisville.

The Blue Devil women totaled 69 points on their way to the team title. Second-place Virginia ended the day with 113 points, followed by N.C. State in third, William and Mary in fourth and North Carolina in fifth with 113, 135, 145 and 167 points, respectively.

"I thought we saw nice improvement across the board," said head coach Kevin Jermyn. "We were able to pull away from some of the teams that were right behind us at the ACC Championships and we were stronger through our top three."

Four Duke harriers earned all-region honors, led by sophomore Carly Seymour. The Ebensburg, Pa., native ran 20:28.85 over 6K to take fifth place out of 237 finishers. Senior Kate Van Buskirk was not far behind in sixth place with a time of 20:34.20, marking the third time she has earned all-region honors in her Duke career.

A pair of freshman also nabbed all-region accolades as Juliet Bottorff (20:43.52) finished in 10^th and Kayla Hale (21:20.81) took 21^st place.

Freshman Madeline Morgan was Duke's fifth finisher, completing the race in 21:28.53 for 27^th place, two spots away from all-region recognition. Sophomore Suejin Ahn finished 28^th in 21:30.57, while junior Emily Schwitzer finished 38^th in 21:40.95.

"Everyone stepped up well, person for person," Jermyn said. "This race was another positive step for us. We definitely feel like we are one of the best teams in the country, we just need to be a little tighter four through five to challenge the top teams."

On the men's side, Duke totaled 131 points to finish fourth out of 35 teams. Eighth-ranked William and Mary won its second consecutive title, while No. 16 N.C. State (99 points) finished second and No. 24 Louisville (121 points) took third. The Blue Devils narrowly edged fifth-place and No. 19 Virginia (133 points) for their first victory over the Cavaliers in three tries this season.

Junior Bo Waggoner led all Duke runners with a 13^th-place effort out of 231 finishers. Waggoner covered the 10K course in 30:30.12 to earn his second all-region honors in as many years.

A trio of Duke runners narrowly missed all-region honors as sophomore Josh Brewer (31:06.79) finished 26^th, junior Joshua Lund (31:11.13) finished 27^th and senior James Osborne (31:11.59) finished 28^th.  

The Blue Devils again were the first team with all five scorers across the line first as James Kostelnik took 37^th place in 31:29.40.

Sophomore Stephen Clark took 39^th place in 31:30.34 and junior Cory Nanni took 138^th place in 33:37.81 to round out Duke's seven finishers.

"We feel very good about our chances for an at-large bid," said head coach Norm Ogilvie. We took a major hit with Nanni; he was going strong through 8K before his calf really tightened up during the last two kilometers. But other guys stepped up and got the job done. We're really, really proud of these guys and hope their performance results in an at-large bid."

With the win, the Duke women automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, held in Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday, Nov. 23. After finishing outside the top two, the Blue Devil men will have to wait until tomorrow night at 7 p.m. to find out whether they will receive one of 13 at-large bids available.

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