The ASU cross country team passed its first mental test of the season Saturday in Flagstaff, with all the women placing in the top 15 and all men in the top 25 at the George Kyte Invitational at Buffalo Park.
“Things went pretty smooth today,” coach Louie Quintana said of ASU’s performance at the first meet of the season. “We knew coming in that we would be dealing with the altitude. It's really not that big of a deal. Our focus was staying together.”
The Sun Devils clearly had no problem staying together during the race, which they utilized as a training device.
In the men’s 8000-meter run, Daniel Lovell (28:12.4), Doug Smith (28:12.7), Darius Terry (28:12.9), Cameron Liston (28:13.1) and Ben Engelhardt (28:13.3) all crossed the line nearly simultaneously to place 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd, respectively.
The women’s team also succeeded in sticking to Quintana’s game plan, as the top five ASU lady harriers to cross the line finished the race within 18 seconds of one another.
Lindsay Prescott (18:49.1), Anna Sperry (18:49.5) and Alyssa Allison (18:50.1) all finished together in sixth, seventh and eighth overall. Kauren Tarver (19:06.1) and Karlee Owens (19:06.8) took 10th and 11th, while Kate Lydy (19:38.1) rounded out the group, finishing 14th.
“It was pretty relaxed and since we were together it was a low stress day,” Quintana said.
As a team, the ASU women placed second with 42 points and the men were fourth with 75 points. As expected, the host Lumberjacks won the men’s title with 31 points, while visiting UA took the women’s crown with 29 points.
Although ASU didn’t have a victory on Saturday, Quintana was pleased with his team’s effort and execution, an indication that ASU ran just as he wanted.
The altitude, a major factor for all visiting squads coming in, didn’t seem to tinker with ASU’s strategy on Saturday.
“The altitude has never really affected me too much,” ASU redshirt junior Lovell, who trained in Fort Collins, Colorado this summer, said. “It was just a regular tempo run.”
ASU saw three new runners make their Sun Devil cross country debut with Saturday’s race, including redshirt sophomore Terry, who was on familiar turf as he had spent the last two seasons running for NAU.
Sophomore Arkansas transfer Allison and redshirt freshman Owens also made their first ASU cross country appearance.
Despite the youth and a few new faces at Saturday’s starting line, Quintana noted, “they handled themselves like veterans.”
With the first meet of the year complete, ASU seems to be not only flourishing with individual progress but also meshing very well as a team.
“We’re going to have to group up this year, like we did at this race, and help each other push through hard times,” Lovell said.
ASU’s next competition will be on Friday, Sept. 17, when the team travels to Tucson for the Dave Murray Invitational.
Reach the reporter at kyle.j.newman@asu.edu
