Sept. 24, 2005
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Arizona State University cross country team traveled to Minneapolis, Minn., for the Roy Griak Invitational Saturday morning and returned to Tempe with one historic performance, as well as one team title, at the meet held on the Les Bolstad Golf Course. The No. 7 Sun Devil women took first place with 88 points while Minnesota (156) and No. 20 Baylor (177) rounded out the Top 3. The men, ranked No. 11 this week, finished ninth (241 points) with No. 5 BYU edging No. 1 Wisconsin, 117-151, for the title.
Amy Hastings (Sr., Leavenworth, Kan.), running in her first meet this season, added two more historical accomplishments to her stellar career as she became the first Sun Devil runner to win the Griak race as well as securing the most wins in a career with her fifth victory. The 2004 Pac-10 Champion, the only Sun Devil to hold that distinction, covered the 6,000m course in 20:58. Hastings, who gave the Sun Devil women their third victory in as many meets this season as Jenna Wrieden (Jr., Glendale, Ariz.) won the season-opening George Kyte Invitational and Brooke Bennett (So., Eagar, Ariz.) won the Dave Murray Invitational, moved past Lynn Nelson, who previously held the record for career wins when she won four races in the 1983 season. The three individual titles secured this season also mark the most in a single season for the Sun Devil women since that same 1983 season.
Hastings was followed across the line by Anna Masinelli (Sr., Scottsdale, Ariz.), who placed fifth at 21:06, giving the Sun Devils two Top 5 finishers in the meet. Victoria Jackson (Gr., Lake Forest, Ill.) finished 24th overall in 21:47, Jenna Kingma (Fr., San Luis Obispo, Calif.) was 25th overall at 21:50 and Rachel Ellison (Sr., Pasco, Wash.) rounded out the Top 5 for the harriers with her 39th-place finish at 22:06.
ASU saw eight of its runners finish before any other team's fifth-place finisher did as Whitney Hardt (Fr., Queen Creek, Ariz.) placed 40th at 22:08, Corey Randall (Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio) took 50th at 22:16 and Angela Spadafino (Fr., Torrance, Calif.) placed 58th at 22:23. Two other student-athletes competed for the women with Bennett placing 75th overall at 22:37 and Cassie Rios (So., Glendale, Ariz.) taking 94th at 22:53.
On the men's side, senior Ryan Warrenburg (Sr., Franklin, Ind.) paced the Sun Devils with his 11th-place finish as he covered the 8,000m run in 24:33 to lead the men and was followed by Joey Heller (So., Phoenix, Ariz.), 36th at 25:04, Casey Burchill (Sr., Clovis, Calif.), who was 40th at 25:07, Eric Dall (Jr., Scottsdale, Ariz.), 71st at 25:33 and Kal Clark (Jr., Pee Wee Valley, Ky.), 91st at 25:43.
Five other men competed for the Sun Devils, including Griffin Lee (Sr., Shawnee Heights, Kan.), 138th at 26:24, David Mehlhorn (Fr., Tempe, Ariz.), 149th at 26:30, Jeremy Cramer (Jr., Boise, Idaho), 152nd at 26:31, David Gott (Fr., Marion, Iowa), 165th at 26:47 and Jack Mann (Fr., Scottsdale, Ariz.), 184th at 27:11.
Following a weekend off from competition, the Sun Devils will return to action Friday, Oct. 7, when they play host to the Arizona State Invitational at Tempe Kiwanis Park. The women open the meet at 4:45 p.m. while the men race at 5:15 p.m.