The ASU cross country teams challenged the top of their conference at the Pac-10 Championships on Saturday, but came up shy of winning the title.
There were no big surprises in the meet, as both the No. 1 ranked teams in the nation took home the Pac-10 crown in their respective races.
The No. 5 ASU women's team tied for third place, while the No. 25 ASU men's team finished fifth at the meet held in Corvallis, Ore.
The ASU women's squad was paced by the individual efforts of junior Jenna Kingma and sophomore Ali Kielty, who both finished in the top 10.
Kingma was ASU's top finisher on the 6K course, coming in at fifth place with a time of 20:09.4. Kielty followed it up with a seventh place finish of her own with a time of 20:24.3.
Arianna Lambie of Stanford was the top finisher in the women's race for a third year in a row, crossing the tape with a time of 19:40.7. Lambie helped No. 1 Stanford achieve its 12th consecutive conference championship.
On the men's side, senior Kyle Alcorn was again ASU's top finisher, coming in with a 10th place individual showing. Alcorn completed the 8K course in 23:18.8.
Right behind Alcorn was fellow ASU runner Jeff Helmer. The sophomore crossed the finish line in 15th place, clocking in at a time of 23:27.5.
Rounding out the Sun Devil top five were senior Joey Heller, freshman Ben Engelhardt and junior Alonso Contreras, who finished 25th, 26th and 31st respectively.
Reach the reporter at: love.bhakta@asu.edu.
