Oct. 14, 2006
Results: Pre-Nationals (pdf) | Canyon West
TEMPE, Ariz. - Members of the Arizona State University cross country program competed in a pair of meets Saturday with the Sun Devils' top runners competing in the NCAA Pre-National meet in Terre Haute, Ind., while several other Sun Devils returned to Kiwanis Park in Tempe for the Canyon West Classic. In the Hoosier State, the ASU women placed third in the `blue' race while the men took 16th in the `white' race as both races featured 36 teams. Back home, the women were the only open team competing while the men did not score as a team.
At the Pre-National meet, the 16th-ranked Sun Devils scored 224 points to finish behind No. 1 Stanford (45 points) and No. 18 Minnesota (200) while finishing ahead of No. 6 BYU (242) and No. 10 Providence (247). The Sun Devils also placed higher than four other higher ranked squads, including No. 12 Florida State (seventh place), No. 7 Princeton (ninth), No. 11 Iowa (10th) and No. 13 Wake Forest (20th).
Individually, Jenna Kingma led the women as she finished 11th overall in 20:31.8 while Cassie Rios was right behind her in 16th place (20:36.7). Also scoring in the team's Top 5 were Ali Kielty (51st in 21:07.1), Brooke Bennett (61st in 21:16.7) and Krystal Duke (85th in 21:33.5). Corey Randall (105th in 21:43.4) and Whitney Lemieux (124th in 21:50.0) also competed in the meet for the Sun Devil women.
On the men's side, the No. 20 Sun Devils scored 452 points to place 16th overall with No. 5 Iona winning the men's meet with 100 points, nipping No. 3 Stanford (106 points) for the title. No. 25 Florida (217), No. 21 Notre Dame (255) and unranked Iowa (270) rounded out the Top 5.
Individually, Aaron Aguayo was the top male finisher for the Sun Devils as he claimed 16th overall in 23:55.8. He was followed by Kyle Alcorn (29th in 24:08.7), Joey Heller (55th in 24:30.2), Mikias Gelagle (163rd in 25:18.9) and Garrett Kelly (194th in 25:43.7) in the scoring Top 5. Eric Dall (209th in 25:59.1) and Kal Clark (223rd in 26:15.8) also ran for the Sun Devils. One other ASU runner competed on the day as Jeff Helmer finished 26th overall in the men's open race as he covered the course in 25:10.4.
Back home, the Sun Devil women sent five athletes out on the Kiwanis course with all five finishing in the Top 35 of the race. Sereena Harmon led the women for the second week in a row, this time taking runner-up honors in 18:57.8 with only three-time All-America Amy Hastings finishing ahead of her in 18:10.3. Also scoring for the Sun Devils were Jenny Cohen (third in 19:12.0), Jessie McLaughlin (fourth in 19:16.5), Samantha Knobbe (30th in 21:33.3) and Jenn Schraven (33rd in 22:06.6). On the men's side, only newcomer Shane Snyder competed for the Sun Devil program, finishing 10th overall in 26:14.2.
The Sun Devils will take a week off from competition next weekend before heading to Palo Alto, Calif., for the 2006 Pac-10 Cross Country Championships hosted by Stanford on Oct. 28.