After a pair of grueling Midwest trips, ASU cross country finally has a meet in its own backyard.
Friday marks the Sun Devils' return to the Valley as the team prepares for the ASU Invitational at the Papago Golf Course in Phoenix.
“It’s a little bit of good will in the community in terms of having a cross country race here in the city,” head coach Louie Quintana said. “It gives our athletes another opportunity to compete.”
At the ASU Invitational last year, CJ Albertson won the race for the Sun Devils with a time of 20:17.97.
“(Albertson) is a perfect example of taking advantage of every absolute opportunity,” Quintana said. “It doesn’t matter how high or low key these types of meets are, you go out with a great mentality, those things bleed over into the Pac-12 meet or the regional meet.”
Quintana said the motivating factors for the team this week is to continue forward and come together.
“The women, for instance, are really close,” Quintana said. “I think we’re really really close to making a big break-through. I think the motivation is clearly to push forward to be ready for the conference and the regional meet and hopefully the NCAA Championships.”
For the men, Quintana said Friday’s home meet is a “stepping stone” for the group.
“Our main focus … is to just put ourselves in a better spot going into the conference championship,” Quintana said. “This meet gives us something to shoot for, for sure.”
Friday’s meet will be at a different location than last year’s race. In 2014, the race was held at ASU’s Karsten Golf Course in Tempe.
“We run by the area just about every day,” redshirt sophomore Cody Brazeal said. “As far as running the course itself, it will be a new one for us. That’ll be fun to experience.”
In last year’s race for the men, Daniel Wong finished fifth for the Sun Devils, recording a time of 20:37.00. Noah Kenyawani was right behind him, crossing the finish line in seventh overall with a time of 21:02.03.
Jack Balder also ran in the ASU Invitational last season, where he secured 18th place clocking in at 22:04.05.
In the women’s three-mile race, Miranda Kewley scored fifth at the ASU’s invite in 2014, notching a time of 18:24.51. ASU’s Mia Townsend also raced that day, securing 20th place overall with her time of 19:35.15.
Entering Friday’s meet, redshirt junior Kaitlin Kaluzny said it will be important to remain calm and relaxed.
“We’re all really hard on ourselves and put a lot of pressure on ourselves,” Kaluzny said. “Once we run relaxed and just run free, then that’s when the good stuff happens.”
Friday’s ASU Invitational will feature the women’s three-mile race at 4:20 p.m., followed by the men’s four-mile race at 5 p.m.
“The main expectation for me, quite honestly, is for us just to run free,” Quintana said. “I want to see smiles on their faces.”
Friday’s meet is the final race before the Pac-12 Championships in Colfax, Washington on Friday, Oct. 30 at 10:30 a.m.
Reach the reporter at michael.baron@asu.edu or follow @Michael_Baron96 on Twitter.
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