Duke XC

Let's Run has been maintaing an Ashley Brosovan vigil. She's been a suspected anaerexotic and so far hasn't raced a step in her two years at Duke. Maybe it's to Dukes crdit that they haven't given her a uniform but I think the prevailing opinion is that Duke looks the other way at EDs.

7 miles away wrote:

Let's Run has been maintaing an Ashley Brosovan vigil. She's been a suspected anaerexotic and so far hasn't raced a step in her two years at Duke. Maybe it's to Dukes crdit that they haven't given her a uniform but I think the prevailing opinion is that Duke looks the other way at EDs.

Erectile disfunction is no joke.

Also took Brianna Welch who had pretty much been injured on and off(more on than off) from spring of her sophomore year throughout the rest of high school, she didn't race through fall and winter, ran like two races this spring around her PRs and was injured again. I think there's a decent handful of other girls on the team who haven't done much.

Every time people ask questions like this on here, I have the same advice. If you are really a prospective student, you should be emailing the coach or talking to current athletes instead of on letsrun. You're way better off deciding for yourself what's a good fit for you and whether or not you like a coach/school.

That being said, I'll answer your question with what I know. Duke's women have placed top 10 at nationals several times in the last 5-10 years. The program is demanding and expects you to commit to running, but they're pretty conservative in training/racing. Like all women's programs they have injuries, I don't know if the rate is higher, lower or average. They do consistently produce All-Americans and high national finishes. Obviously the academics are great and women there are successful in that regard (good grades, going on to med school or pro running or jobs).

Duke coaches have been extremely conservative with Brianna. She has only been running 4 days a week less than 20 miles per week. Lots of xtraining. Brianna's problems started way before Duke. (as with Brasovan) Bri went from 5'3 to 5'8 in hs and hasn't been able to get it right, yet. She' not giving up though and feels hope in the fact that in her 2 college races she ran 2:16 - 800m and 4:42 - 1500m, despite being injured on and off most of the year.

Brianna's mom wrote:

Duke coaches have been extremely conservative with Brianna. She has only been running 4 days a week less than 20 miles per week. Lots of xtraining. Brianna's problems started way before Duke. (as with Brasovan) Bri went from 5'3 to 5'8 in hs and hasn't been able to get it right, yet. She' not giving up though and feels hope in the fact that in her 2 college races she ran 2:16 - 800m and 4:42 - 1500m, despite being injured on and off most of the year.

Best of wishes to your daughter, I hope she gets healthy and is able to achieve her dreams in running and (more importantly) in school and life. Please do yourself a favor and do not read this board any more. It is full of mean spirited, nasty, and vindictive people. Do not take any of it personally, they are like that to everybody.

7 miles away wrote:

Let's Run has been maintaing an Ashley Brosovan vigil. She's been a suspected anaerexotic and so far hasn't raced a step in her two years at Duke. Maybe it's to Dukes crdit that they haven't given her a uniform but I think the prevailing opinion is that Duke looks the other way at EDs.

Driving back to Indy from TerreHaute after last year's NCAA CC, I bumped into Ashley and her Dad at a truck/foodstop on I-70. We spotted each other's Duke garb and struck up a brief conversation. She said she was "fighting injuries." I too have been curious as to her non-competition. Frankly I had never heard of her until I met her, but when her Dad said she had won the Footlocker I was immediately impressed. Seemed like a nice young lady and although quite small did not look skinny enough that I would have noticed.

While all women's teams may have injuries, the number of elite high school girls that enter Duke's program and are never heard from again seem excessive. Just look over their rosters from the past few years. The amount of talent that enters that program is incredible - good recruiting, the women just want to attend Duke, or a combination of both? Only a handful of the women seem to run consistently and quite a few seem to either never run, seldom run, or quit the team altogether.

I think that all of the NC schools are attuned to eating issues after the NCAA 10,000 a couple of decades ago (favorite ran off the track, over the fence, on to the bridge and jumped). In fact, most NCAA schools got much better after than horrific event (my understanding was that a sizable proportion of coaches indicated at that time that there were ED problems).

As 'mom' says above, there are a number of reasons, including big height changes, such as Tegenkamp had, that hinder college runners and it takes a while to get passed them, although those changes sometimes alter the physiology of the runners that made them so good so young. Another aspect of these athletes that made them good young is that they are very good achievers and they can shift their priorities to other important activities. Look, for instance, at Cassie Hintz at Wisconsin. I think she came to Wisconsin with a great record and with some major issues. She had some success after a low-key freshman year where they kept her out of any competitions (until Crazy Legs) and she has been a stellar engineering student (I was friends with her key faculty prof). No longer a great runner, still runs, and will likely have a great life/career.

I am guessing a reason for Duke girls "disappearing" is balancing the academic rigor as well as running. Is Kevin Jemyn really that demanding?

Woah woah woah. At NCAAs a girl ran off the starting line and jumped off a bridge? Can you be more detailed? That is an intense story and I've never heard of that before.

Kathy Ormsby, NC State, ran off the track during the 1986 NCAA 10,000m and jumped off a bridge in an apparent suicide attempt. I believe she was the NCAA record holder at the time.

It was somewhere around the 6000m range or a little after. She survived but is paralyzed.

It did get a many to take a look at the situation. Remember, women started NCAA competition not too many years before.

LWLW wrote:

Woah woah woah. At NCAAs a girl ran off the starting line and jumped off a bridge? Can you be more detailed? That is an intense story and I've never heard of that before.

Read The Silence of Great Distance by Frank Murphy - it tells the story of Stephanie Herbst, who eventually won that 10k, and dedicates a section to telling Ormsby's story. Also: