In their final tuneup before the Pac-10 Championships, the ASU women's cross country team finished second, while the men finished 17th, at the NCAA Pre-National meet Saturday.
Running the same course they will see Nov. 21 for the NCAA Championships, the women placed six of their seven runners in the top 40.
Senior Amy Hastings, who is preparing to defend her Pac-10 title and make a run at a national title, was the Sun Devils' top finisher, placing sixth by running the 6,000-meter course in 20:40. Senior Anna Masinelli was the other top-10 finisher, as she placed tenth in 20:44.
The usual No. 3 runner for the women, senior Victoria Jackson, missed the meet due to an academic commitment. Instead, Jackson ran in the team's other meet held in Tempe, the Canyon West Classic, and she captured the individual title with a time of 17:54.
Because the Canyon West meet took place Saturday before the Pre-Nationals, Jackson's victory gave the women their fifth consecutive individual win, which set a new school record for consecutive meets with an individual title.
The women also captured the team title at the Canyon West, behind Jackson and junior Jenna Wrieden, who finished third in the meet.
The other top finishers at the Pre-Nationals were freshman Jenna Kingma (16th in 21:04), sophomore Cassie Rios (29th in 21:15), junior Corey Randall (35th in 21:21) and senior Rachel Ellison (40th in 21:38).
Senior Casey Burchill was the top male runner at the Pre-Nationals, as he ran the 8,000-meter course in 24:01 to finish 12th. The only other Sun Devil male to finish in the top 100 was senior Ryan Warrenburg, who finished 30th in 24:26.
Three of the men who ran were participating in their first meet of the season, after missing the Roy Griak Invitational due to injury. Of those three, senior JJ Duke was the top finisher in the meet, as he came in 104th in 25:15. The others were seniors Roger Cahill (137th in 25:34) and Velibor Radejovic (205th in 26:32), but coach Louie Quintana said they should all hit their strides at the right time.
"JJ has been training well, and Roger and Veli will be at their best in three to five weeks, which is good for our team then," Quintana added.
Meanwhile, the men's "B" team captured its third team victory of the season at the Canyon West Classic, with three of the top four individual finishers. Junior Jeremy Cramer finished second in 25:37, immediately followed by freshmen David Mehlhorn and Jack Mann, who finished in times of 25:44 and 25:56 respectively.
Both teams have a week off in preparation for the Pac-10 meet Oct. 29, which will take place at Del Urich Golf Course in Tucson.
Reach the reporter at matthew.storey@asu.edu.
