ASU cross country found success yet again in the third race of its 2016 campaign, as the women took home first place and the men took second at the Capital Cross Challenge in Sacramento, California Saturday afternoon.
The women’s victory was their second of the season, having also won the George Kyte Invitational four weeks back, and leading the way was redshirt junior Chelsey Albertson, who finished second in her first two races of the season before taking first place by a 24-second margin.
"It was a little suprirrisng, we knew that we training well and that things were getting better and better each week," head coach Louie Quintana said following the race. "To really put it together for this women's team, with a lot of girls running their first ever 6k, they kept their composure and we won pretty handily and ran pretty fast as well. This is a great step for our girls."
#MaroonMonsoon in full effect! pic.twitter.com/vvwTIid3g6
— SunDevilTFXC (@SunDevilTFXC) October 1, 2016
Although this is the third straight meet in which ASU’s men’s and women’s teams each took a top two slot in their respective races, this one is the most impressive yet, as the Sun Devils went up against upwards of fifteen strong programs, most of which from the west coast.
The likes of Pac-12 foes California and USC, as well as Cal-State Fullerton and UC Davis provided a challenging field of competition for ASU. Ultimately, it was Chico State, a strong Division II cross country program from California, who bested the Sun Devils on the men’s side.
"Chico State on the men's side is the real deal, they are a good Division II school, I think they're good enough to be in the top 20 at the NCAA meet, they're that good," Quintana said. "The difference between D-I and D-II is not as strong as it would be in other sports...they have a great tradition, so there's no shame in us getting beat by them."
For redshirt senior C.J. Albertson, this was the first race in which he didn’t win first place; he did so at both the George Kyte Invitational and the Dave Murray Invitational two weeks ago.
Albertson was the third place finisher behind two Chico State runners, senior William Reyes and junior Kyle Medina, but continues to lead the ASU’s men’s charge with his performance on the track.
Another of the Sun Devils’ most prominent runners, Bernie Montoya, still has yet to compete for his team this season. According to Quintana, due to some health issues at the outset of the season and a training process that hasn't progressed as they may have hoped, there may be a medical redshirt in store for the senior in order to maximize his eligibility and create a fifth year opportunity.
"His training is going okay, not great, and we're kind of on the fence of whether or not he'll race at all this fall," Quintana said. "If there's a potential to redshirt him and balance his eligibility to give him a full year next year, we might do that."
Now, as the calendar shifts to the month of October, the competition will continue to heat up for the Sun Devils. Although they will not race in this Friday's Arizona Twilight in Tucson as previously scheduled, the next race is set for October 15, when ASU heads to Terre Haute, Indiana, for the season’s highest-profile race, the NCAA Pre-Nationals.
Reach the reporter at jeff.griffith21@asu.edu or follow @Jeff_Griffith21 on Twitter.
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