No. 4 Duke at Adidas XC Challenge
CARY, N.C. -- Duke’s fourth-ranked team was crowned meet champion at the 20th running of the Adidas XC Challenge on Friday. The Blue Devils placed five runners in the top 10 and eight runners in the top 15. Duke’s score of 24 in bettered ACC opponents NC State (38) and North Carolina (87).
Graduate student Juliet Bottorff lead the way for the Blue Devils. Bottorff covered the first half of the 5,000-meter course conservatively before dropping the pace and running a negative-split en route to a new course record of 16:28.9. Bottorff’s time eclipsed her previous personal best at the same distance by 30 seconds.
The trio of freshmen, Wesley Frazier, Haley Meier and Hannah Meier debuted in impressive fashion for Duke, placing third, fourth and seventh, respectively. Frazier and Haley Meier worked together throughout the race and finished less than a second apart from one another, with Frazier crossing the line in 17:15.4 and Haley Meier finishing in 17:15.8. Hannah Meier played a pivotal role in securing the victory for the Blue Devils, placing ahead of NC State’s fourth runner in a time of 17:31.3.
Sophomore Anima Banks, junior Julianna Miller and senior Ashley Berry rounded out the top seven for the Blue Devils. Banks recorded a personal best time of 17:38.4 and placed ninth overall while Miller also bested her personal best time, placing 10th in a time of 17:39.4. Berry dropped nearly 20 seconds from her 5,000-meter time from last year, running a time of 17:52 and placing 12th in the process.
Also finishing inside the top 30 included sophomore Madison Granger who placed 13th at 17:57.0 and sophomore Allison Sturges who recorded a time of 18:27.3 to finish 23rd. Graduate student Sophia Ziemian, freshman Grace Chang and junior Abby Farley placed 25th, 29th and 30th respectively. Ziemian notched a time of 18:33.7, while Chang ran a time of 18:40.2 and Farley posted a time of 18:45.8.
