The women's cross-country team will race today for the final time this season at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind.
The women's team automatically qualified when they finished in second place at the NCAA West Regional on Nov. 16, but the men's team did not qualify with their fifth place finish and were not selected as an at-large team. Senior Fasil Bizuneh and sophomore J.J. Duke qualified individually, however, and will race at the meet.
This year's competition will feature 31 teams including ASU, Brigham Young, Florida State, North Carolina State, Stanford and Texas as well as NAU, Duke, Indiana, UCLA and Washington as at-large teams.
The 2002 NCAA Championships is the ASU women's fifth consecutive appearance. The 1998 season was the first time they qualified, but the program's record finish was sixth place in 2000. Head coach Walt Drenth will be taking his seventh ASU team to the tournament and his 12th team overall.
At this competition, Bizuneh will look to make some history of his own by attempting to become the first Sun Devil ever to earn three All-American honors. He would be the first in the 41 years of the men's program and 24 years of the women's.
The final rankings for both men's and women's teams were released Nov. 18 and the ASU women held on to their No. 17 ranking for the third week in a row. For the first time all year, the men fell out of the rankings during the final week.
Academic Honors announced:
On Friday, academic teams were announced which included 10 Sun Devils in all. Junior Cynthia Antencio garnered a women's first team selection and senior Jeremy Rasmussen received men's second team honors. Antencio extended the streak to four years in a row that a Sun Devil woman earned a spot on the first team. Senior Joanie Baca, juniors Alvina Begay and Lisa Pohlit, sophomores Desiree Davila and Penny Jacobson, and red-shirt freshman Amanda Lyon received honorable mentions for the women. In addition, senior Kris Alexander and junior Dan Maher were awarded honorable mentions for the men.
Reach the reporter at katie.crane@asu.edu.
