Blue Devils Travel for Pre-Nationals Invitational, VertCross

Friday, October 15

Tallahassee, Fla.

8 A.M.

Duke University

Pre-Nationals Invitational

Photo by: Tom Connelly

Blue Devils Travel for Pre-Nationals Invitational, VertCross

10/14/2021 3:41:00 PM | Cross Country

LIVE RESULTS (PRE-NATIONALS)

DURHAM – Duke men's and women's cross country are set to split up for two meets, as several will compete in the Pre-Nationals Invitational, hosted by Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla., while others will travel to Kernersville, N.C., for VertCross, hosted by High Point.

Pre-Nationals will get started at 8 a.m., while VertCross will open at 4 p.m.

The Pre-Nationals event, hosted by the school that will also host the NCAA Championship, is back after an absence during the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Duke will be a part of a large field made up of the top teams in the country. The Pre-Nationals include 39 teams in the men's race and 36 teams in the women's race. The Blue Devils are one of just 23 schools to feature both the men's and women's teams.

Who's Competing

Heading to Tallahassee are eight men and seven women. On the men's side, graduate students CJ Ambrosio, Nick Dahl, Josh Romine and Michael Ungvarsky, senior Chris Theodore and juniors Rory Cavan, Zach Kinne and Sam Rivera will run the 8K race. For the women, graduate student Michaela Reinhart, seniors Elizabeth Reneau and Clara Savchik, juniors Emily Cole and Caroline Howley, sophomore Charlotte Tomkinson and freshman Katie Hamilton will tackle the 6K course.
The Blue Devils will also send 10 runners to compete in the VertCross Invitational. Seven men; senior Will Dixon, junior Connor Wells and sophomores Ben Armentrout, Zach Barry, Jack Kovach, Jared Kreis, and Owen MacKenzie, as well as three women; junior Naima Turbes, sophomore Kelli Wilson and freshman Hope Frost will tackle the 8K and 5K courses in Kernersville, N.C.

What to Watch For

The Pre-Nationals Invitational will feature five top-10 men's squads in the nation (No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 5 BYU, No. 7 Colorado and No. 8 Arkansas), as well as two top-10 teams on the women's side (No. 5 Colorado and No. 10 Utah).
Friday will feature another test for several Blue Devils at VertCross, with several runners angling for personal bests.
The Blue Devil women enter off a strong showing at the Battle in Beantown, finishing third and beating three teams ranked ahead of them: No. 22 Connecticut, Syracuse and Boston College.
It was another top-five performance from Tomkinson, who led all Blue Devils and finished with the third best time in the ACC, clocking in at 17:14.1. Tomkinson last competed in Tallahassee on Feb. 5, 2021, where she took 46th at the FSU Winter XC Classic.
The men's side delivered a strong showing in pack running, as Ambrosio, Kinne, Rivera and Theodore all finished between 11th and 20th at the Battle in Beantown.
Ambrosio started his season with the top Blue Devils mark at 24:20.7 and makes his return to Tallahassee, where he finished 25th with a time of 24:11.0 on Feb. 5, 2021.
The men are checking in at No. 5 in the southeast region for the third straight week, while the women stand at No. 6.
The last time the Blue Devils competed in the Pre-Nationals was in 2019 in Terre Haute, Ind. Reinhart had the best finish among returning Blue Devils, taking 59th with a time of 21:01.1. Kinne earned the best time amongst the men, taking 81st with a time of 24:40.4.
Hamilton will be the lone Duke freshman in the Pre-Nationals field. The Westfield, N.J., native was named ACC Co-Freshman of the Week on Sept. 7 after taking 10th at Elon with a time of 14:09.6.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils cross country and track & field, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeTFXC."

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