After a three-week hiatus, the ASU men's and women's cross country teams will compete in their second meet of the season Saturday morning at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis.
"Perennially, it's one of the better cross country meets during the year," Sun Devil head coach Walt Drenth said.
The Roy Griak Invitational will feature runners from both colleges and high schools across the nation. Although it will draw many highly-ranked teams, three weeks of practice didn't provide instruction as to how the runners should prepare.
"We don't specifically prepare for meets this early in the season," Drenth said. "We continue working on the background of running, and are preparing more for the end of the season."
The 19th-ranked ASU women's team will return to Minnesota as the defending champions. The No. 14 Sun Devil men's squad finished eighth last season in the Twin Cities.
"The women had great success there last year, and should still be competitive, but it's a new group," Drenth said. "I expect both teams to be competitive. Our goal though, is to start establishing our team for the NCAA Regionals and to help accumulate points."
ASU freshmen found success earlier this month when participating at the Adidas Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind. Drenth expects them to continue to be competitive.
"Our goal is to get them to understand what it takes to compete," Drenth said. "I'd much rather have them be consistent than outstanding one meet and sub-par the next."
This weekend's meet should allow the Sun Devils to see if their training is ample for the remainder of the season.
"The team is still not at full strength, but we are considerably better than three weeks ago," Drenth said.
In addition to partaking in the Roy Griak Invitational, ASU's runners also will make an appearance at a meet near campus. Those Sun Devils not traveling will compete in the Canyon West Classic at Kiwanis Park in Tempe. Drenth will send a full women's team and several men's runners.
"It's a development opportunity," Drenth said. "We evaluate daily in practice, but it doesn't always show how they can be competitively in a race."
Reach the reporter at katie.crane@asu.edu.
