DURHAM, N.C. - The Duke men's and women's cross country teams will return to action this weekend, starting with the men's B team taking part in the Great American Cross Country Festival (Cary, N.C.) on Friday, Oct. 2 at 3:55 p.m. The women will travel two separate squads on Saturday, Oct. 3. Nine runners will head to Madison, Wisc., to race in the Wisconsin adidas Invite at 11:45 a.m., while the B team will head to the Hagan Stone XC Classic in Greensboro, N.C., at 10:15 a.m.
Nine Blue Devils will be competing for the Duke men this afternoon in Cary. Seniors Will Smith and Ken Sullivan, along with juniors Isaac Dunkelberger, Josh Lund and Ryan McDermott will all make their 2009 debuts this afternoon. Joining them will be sophomores Guillermo Echarte, Brendon Pierson and Jonathan Chu, along with freshman Mike Moverman.
The Blue Devil women face their toughest challenge of the season at the inaugural 5K Wisconsin adidas Invite held at the brand new Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course at University Ridge. Head women's cross country coach Kevin Jermyn will try and lead his young squad, which features two juniors, five sophomores and two freshmen, to a strong finish against their first ranked opposition of the 2009 season. In addition to host-team No. 26 Wisconsin, Duke will face five other nationally-ranked opponents on Saturday: No. 10 Illinois, No. 17 Michigan, No. 21 Syracuse, No. 23 Brigham Young and No. 28 Arkansas.
Suejin Ahn, Katelyn Bastert, Mary Carleton Johnston, Kristina Krasich, Madeline Morgan, Emily Schwitzer, Carly Seymour, Esther Vermeer and Sophia Ziemian will all compete for Duke at the Wisconsin adidas Invite.
The women's B team also kicks off on Saturday at the Hagan Stone XC Classic held at Hagan Stone Park in Greensboro, N.C. The university women's 5K race gets underway at 10:15 a.m. Anna Farias-Eisner, Shelley Forbes, Priya Khatri, Devotia Moore, Leslie Morrison, Emily Sherrard and Amanda Truelove are scheduled to run for the Blue Devils, while Julie Bottorff, Kayla Hale, Cydney Ross and Kate van Buskirk will compete unattached.
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