Ashley Berry and her Duke University fourth-ranked Women’s Cross Country teammates were crowned meet Champions at the 20th running of the Adidas XC Challenge, after they placed five runners in the top 10 and eight runners in the top 15.
Duke’s score of 24 in the Women’s Division I 5k bettered ACC opponents North Carolina State (38) and North Carolina (87).
Graduate student Juliet Bottorff took full advantage of the cool weather, leading the way for Duke. 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 Duke, placing ahead of NC State’s fourth runner in a time of 17:31.3.
Sophomore Anima Banks, junior Julianna Miller and senior Berry rounded out the top seven for Duke. 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.
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