Nov. 20, 2006
Photo Gallery (by Alex Ryan)
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The 2006 season came to a close Monday afternoon for the Arizona State University cross country team as the women's team and one male runner competed at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Ind.
Running as an individual, Aaron Aguayo made Sun Devil history as he covered the 10K course in 31:06.60 to finish in ninth place and earn his second All-America honor. Despite the cool temperatures and muddy conditions for the second race in a row, the Sun Devil senior was able to stay with the lead pack and cross the finish line as the fifth American in the race while also beating out Robert Cheseret of Arizona.
Aguayo's finish not only made him just the second Sun Devil male to earn All-America honors twice in a cross country career (Fasil Bizuneh in 1999 & 2001), he also recorded the lowest individual finish in program history, surpassing the 11th-place showing of Todd Lewis at the 1991 meet. Aguayo also became just the second ASU runner, male and female, to finish in the Top 10 at the national meet, joining Lisa Aguilera, who placed fifth at the 2000 championships.
The women, led by a trio of young runners, placed 13th overall with 375 points, marking nine years in a row the Sun Devils have placed in the Top 25 at the national meet and their fourth year in a row placing in the Top 15 after taking 14th in 2003, ninth in 2004 and fourth one year ago. Jenna Kingma led the Sun Devils as she placed 60th overall in 21:44.4 while redshirt freshman Ali Kielty trailed her across the line in 68th place at 21:51.3
True freshman Kari Hardt placed 88th in the meet, covering the 6K course in 22:03.5 while juniors Cassie Rios (22:09.2) and Brooke Bennett (22:32.1) rounded out the team scoring with their 102nd and 154th-place showings, respectively. Redshirt freshman Krystal Duke (22:35.5) and senior Corey Randall (23:22.4) rounded out the runners for the Sun Devils, placing 160th and 212th, respectively.
The team's 375 points marks the fourth-lowest total at the national meet for the Sun Devils, surpassed by the 191 points in 2005, the 266 points in 2000 (sixth place) and the 333 points in 2004 (ninth place). In 1999, the women placed 12th overall with 385 points.