For the ASU men's and women's cross country teams, Friday's Adidas Invitational did not end quite how they wanted it to.
Neither squad improved on its second-place finish from 2001 and both finished in last place in their respective divisions at the season-opening meet in South Bend, Ind.
"It is no fun to lose any meet, but we can come away being very optimistic about our chances to succeed down the road," ASU head coach Walt Drenth said. "The freshmen really handled themselves well in their first collegiate meet, and they showed we have potential to be better than last year.
"The tough part about this meet is that all the teams here competed at the NCAA's last year and did very well. With how well the newcomers did, I am confident we will improve as the weeks roll along, and be ready for the end of the year."
Despite a first-place finish from North Carolina State junior Kristin Price, host Notre Dame claimed top honors. But the 19th-ranked ASU women got off to an encouraging start.
ASU's top finisher, freshman Jessica Scalzo, logged a fourth-place finish with a time of 17:28. Sun Devil freshman Amy Hastings finished fifth, while freshmen Amanda Lyon and Liz Lindgren finished 10th and 12th, respectively. Rounding out the top five ASU finishers on the women's side was sophomore Mandi Fizt-Gustafson, who came in at the No. 14 spot.
Notre Dame junior Todd Mobley was the top men's finisher, but N.C. State still walked away victorious. Freshman Aaron Aguayo set the pace for the 13th-ranked Sun Devil men by clocking in at 25:09 for a fifth-place finish.
Senior Fasil Bizuneh and sophomore J.J. Duke finished 12th and 14th, respectively. Senior Jeremy Rasmussen took 18th place and freshman Derek Pisel finished 24th.
Reach the reporter at katie.crane@asu.edu.
