After training all summer, the ASU cross country team finally competes for the first time this season at the 29th George Kyte Invitational in Flagstaff Saturday.
Thirteen schools are set to compete at roughly 7,000 feet above sea level in Buffalo Park, including UA, UNLV (women only), and host Northern Arizona.
The NCAA Division II teams in the field are Grand Canyon, Western New Mexico and West Florida; also running are NJCAA schools Central Arizona, Glendale CC, Mesa CC, Pima CC, Scottsdale CC and Estrella Mountain CC.
“Anytime they put the ASU uniform on, they get excited,” coach Louie Quintana said of his team.
Last year, ASU sent its younger ‘B’ group runners to Flagstaff, where the men placed third and the women fourth while NAU captured both team titles.
The Sun Devils’ plan to run together at this meet as a training exercise, Quintana said, but the conditions are also taken into account.
“It’s a race environment, and we’ll treat it with respect,” Quintana said.
NAU is the favorite to repeat again in the high-altitude race, which will prove to be a test of ASU’s physical and mental toughness.
“You know you are fit, but you just can’t run fast,” Quintana said. “It plays with you mentally a bit. If you train at altitude, you’ll race well at altitude.”
The men, who are ranked 19th nationally and fourth regionally, and the women, 30th and fifth, look to continue building upon their training with the run, although times will be slower than usual due to the elevation.
“Per mile, it’s 10 to 15 seconds slower than running down here,” Quintana said. “It’s usually too difficult for us to go [to Flagstaff] and try to race [to win].”
Normally, the Sun Devils would practice the Tuesday before a meet and then rest for the remainder of the week leading up to race day. However, Quintana plans to stick to the same script that ASU has been working with for the past month.
“With this meet, we don’t do anything differently than we have these last couple weeks,” Quintana explained. “We continue with our mileage- everything’s still high. The women will work out again on Thursday, and some of the men will work out on Friday.”
In its history, ASU has had one individual winner and one team victory at the Kyte Invitational, both coming in the 2005 race.
Jenna Wrieden won the women’s 5,000-meter run in 17:56.8, while the men scored 35 points for the team triumph.
This years meet will begin at 1:30 p.m. with the women’s 5,000-meter run, followed by the men’s 8,000-meter at 2:15 p.m.
There will be an abundance of new faces toeing the starting line for ASU, as 17 of the 44 student-athletes are new to the squad this year.
“I’m looking for them to really work as a group,” Quintana said. “It’s important that they communicate with one another during the race. Basically, they are proving to me that they can follow direction and a race plan.”
The meet will also be used as an opportunity for a squad full of youth to gain some race-day experience. Only six of the 44 Sun Devil harriers are seniors, as ASU has 30 freshman and sophomores on the roster.
“Our focus for this weekend is to just get a race in,” Quintana said. “We’re not going to run super hard.”
After Flagstaff, ASU has two weeks off from competition before heading south to Tucson for The Dave Murray Invitational, hosted by UA.
Reach the reporter at kyle.j.newman@asu.edu
