The 2007 Duke alum will have plenty of Blue Devil company in Boston. A total of five Duke grads have qualified for the trials, more than any other university, and three of them were teammates on the 2004 Duke cross country team that won the ACC and placed second in the NCAA.

Meyerhoff, Ko and Miller are relative neophytes in marathon running. Ko has the most experience of that trio, having run four previous marathons while posting a personal record in three of them. In fact, it was Ko’s performance at the Boston Marathon last year that inspired Meyerhoff to give the sport a try. Ko placed 22nd with a time of 2:46 in the 2007 Boston race to earn her return trip this week for the trials. Ko, a medical student at Johns Hopkins, also placed 22nd at Boston in 2006 in her first appearance there but did not reach the trials qualifying time.

Meyerhoff, a track and cross country All-America who ran the 10,000 meters at the last two NCAA meets, did her first marathon in January, taking sixth place at the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll in her native Arizona — a five-year-old event that links the cities of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe. Her time of 2:42 bested the 2:47 qualifying standard for the trials and is the fastest of any of the Duke qualifiers.

“I was excited for my first marathon,” she said. “I was a little nervous at the start line and driving to the course, but I knew it was a long race and that if I raced smart I would accomplish my goals.

“I went through the half right on pace for the A standard (2:39), but around mile 15 I could tell I was slowing down a bit. I tried to focus on each mile, because I ran the race alone for nearly the entire time. Around mile 20, I was just trying to stay composed and push through the pain.”

Keever, now a 33-year-old director of an educational non-profit in San Francisco, also ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona in January and qualified with a time of 2:46. A multiple school record-holder during her Duke career, she has competed in several marathons over the past five years and missed qualifying for the trials by less than a minute on two occasions, at the 2005 Twin Cities Marathon and three months later in Austin, Tex.

Ackerly, a partner at McGuireWoods in Richmond, ran recreationally at Duke to stay in shape but did not begin competing in marathons until attempting the New York Marathon while in law school at William & Mary. She has run the Richmond Marathon several times, showing dramatic growth from her 346th-place showing in 1998 to her first-place performance in 2006. The ’06 race was her first one after a five-year break to have two children. She placed second at Richmond in ’07, then finally bested the qualifying time for the Trials last month when she won the Napa Valley Marathon in 2:44.

Ackerly credits her husband and coach, Ben, with helping her believe in herself enough to develop into an elite athlete in her 30s.

“I credit my husband, who before my first post-children marathon put a poster above our tub where I take ice baths after hard runs,” Ackerly said. “The poster shows runners coming over a bridge with an Eleanor Roosevelt quote beneath: ‘Believe in yourself. You must do that which you think you cannot.’ Believe has become my mantra during each marathon. My husband is the one who first suggested trying to qualify, and he is the single-most reason I did.”

The trials, which begin at 8 a.m. on Sunday, will be streamed live on NBC.com. A one-hour highlights show will air on MSNBC television on April 27 at noon.

The course is a specially designed loop in Boston that uses the traditional Boston Marathon finish line for both the start and finish. Competitors will have to run the loop five times to complete the 26.2-mile distance.

Ko, Keever and Ackerly are among the Blue Devils with Boston Marathon experience — Ko the past two years, Keever in 2003 and Ackerly earlier in her marathoning days.

“I remember my Boston Marathon as if it were yesterday,” Ackerly said. “I had previously run only a handful of organized races and didn’t know anyone at the race. I remember sitting on the football field in the hours before the race and listening to other runners’ conversations — ‘Did you run Chicago?’ ‘Did you run Grandma’s?’ — feeling as if I were at a Grateful Dead show where people were asking ‘Were you at Red Rocks?’ ‘Were you at Hampton?’ There was this amazing subculture of people who shared an intense love — in this case for running — and I was both awed and utterly terrified that I was out of my depth. But I loved every minute of the race and have always considered it a hallowed experience.”

For Meyerhoff, who is now working with the cross country team at her high school alma mater in Arizona, the transition from track distances to the marathon has been relatively swift, given that she was competing collegiately less than a year ago while turning in some of the best times in school history in the 3K, 5K and 10K. She has also done a half-Ironman triathlon within the last year and is planning to do another one in Hawaii next month. She coaches herself in training for her diverse array of activities.

“My philosophy really is to just train as hard as I possibly can while also being smart,” she said. “I don’t believe in running 90-mile weeks and obsessively following a strict schedule. I have learned it’s important to listen to my body and use those feelings as my feedback on what is working. I plan a long-term schedule for myself and stay as dedicated as possible, with room for changes. It has worked since college so I’ll keep it up, while also making small changes here and there. However, I am definitely not afraid to test my pain tolerance in training.”